Why It’s So Hard to Be Humble

In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus makes it pretty clear that vying with others to receive honor only results in embarrassment. He suggests instead always choosing the lowest position first - that way there is nowhere else to go but up, so any change in status will only increase your honor.

This seems like fairly simple, straightforward advice, so why do we often have such difficulty following it?

Why It’s So Hard to Be Humble

I believe the key is in verse 10:

“Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests.”

Who is the host?

In literal situations, it can be the person who is holding the event you are attending. But what about in life?

I believe the host is God. And when we forget to be humble, usually it is because we also forget that God sees us.

Jesus says, “When your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ ”

We tend to forget that God sees us and that He cares - about our situations and, more importantly, our hearts.

We forget that we have someone looking out for us and believe it is our own responsibility to get the honor we think we deserve. We take God’s job–taking care of us and distributing honor appropriately–into our own hands. We don’t trust God to do His job to our liking so we strive and compete with others in a show that often leads us to embarrassment instead of honor.

So how can we be humble?

We can trust God to see us at the lowest place and raise us up to where He wants us at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way.