Come up here

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

COME UP HERE

Prov 25:6-7

6 Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; 7 it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here," than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.

NIV

Jesus taught this truth as recorded by Luke.

Luke 14:7-11

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

NIV

Being a parable it really is not about being invited to eat dinner at someone’s house and picking which seat to take. Nor is this proverb about that same thing. This is about being invited to the banquet in heaven, the wedding feast of the Lamb of God, we being his bride. Of course we are also the sons and daughter of God as well as co-heirs with Jesus. We are also the inheritance of God. But the idea here is that we should live a life of humility, not a boastful one. We should not go around telling people how great we are because we are a Christian and we are going to heaven, while they will not unless they become like us. We also should not assume our place in heaven based on anything of ourselves. We have absolutely no right to claim any place in heaven other than our faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf. This also means all others have the same opportunity and that all who believe in him will be at that wedding feast. There is but one seat of honor and it belongs to Jesus Christ. As we are in Christ we will be seated with him at the right hand of God.

Eph 2:4-10

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

Somehow thousands upon thousands of us will be seated with Christ at a place of honor, but only as we accept his work on our behalf. We cannot boast any other reason other than Jesus. There is nothing we can do to get that seat at the table. There is nothing we can do to get a better seat. Jesus was at dinner with some Pharisees, who were all about good works. There is no amount of good works that gets us any better seat of honor, to be invited closer to God. There is no scripture which tells us of more crowns or a better position in heaven. We are all the same, sinners saved by grace. When we understand our sinful state and realize it is all about Jesus and his grace and mercy toward us on that cross, we can only take the least important view of ourselves and simply be thankful we have been invited to dine with Jesus, to dine with God. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and realize our only purpose is to bring glory to God, to give him all the praise and honor and glory for he created us for his own purpose. How can we assume we have any place of honor, it only belongs to Jesus. Only through faith in the work of Jesus on that cross will we hear those words, “Come up here”.