If a human being tries to seat himself in the “place of honor,” he will ultimately be put to shame; but if he seats himself in the “lowest place” (the place of Jesus Christ), God will exalt him. “Now He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this man,” and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be e...
“Be saved from this perverse generation” [Acts 2:37-41] Dallas Willard states in his book "Renovation of the Heart" that efforts to change behavior without inner transformation are in vain. However, it seems that we are more focused on changing behavior rather than inner transformation. For example, nowadays many churches are putting more emphasis on hardware rather than software. In an internet article titled "The 'Plate' Has Shifted" on the Church Communication Research Institute website (July 11, 2002), Eui-yong Lee talks about ten ways the world is changing. The third change is described as follows: ‘The third change is a shift from hardware to software. If we consider the piano as hardware, then the sheet music can be considered as software. Until now, it was important how big and high-performing the piano was. But now, how to play the piano, similar to the sheet...