Go up Higher

The name of my blog comes from a parable in the scriptures.  It was one that I found on my mission that taught me a great lesson about how to seek perfection while still being humble.

Jesus was the master teacher.  He took every opportunity to teach those around Him.  In this story, He was invited into the house of one of the chief Pharisees for supper.  There were quite a few of the big guys there, the lawyers and Pharisees were the upper class and had a lot of pride.  The story starts in Luke 14:7.

7  And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

So Jesus might have pointed out that some of them had gone straight to the spot nearest the head of the table or the places of honor in the house.  They all thought that they were more important than the others and that they deserved the honor.

8  When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

9  And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

How embarrassing it would be for you if you have sat down in the place of honor all ready for the feast to have a more honorable person come in and the host ask you to move down and sit somewhere else.  To make it worse, you have lost any chance to sit in that room because the other spots are also taken and you realize you have no importance.

10  But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

This shows true humility.  We shouldn't set ourselves up in a position to be praised and honored, but instead we should be humble and true praise, honor, and exaltation will be given to us by our Friend, Jesus Christ.

As for me when I was on my mission, I didn't need to go around with the attitude that I was so righteous and should be honored for my position as a missionary, but instead, I was to do the things I was called to do and be content with what the Lord gave to me and when He would give it.

All of us are striving for perfection.  We want to be like our Heavenly Father through developing Christlike attributes.  But the first thing to remember is that we do this through humility.  We are not any better than our brother or sister next to us, and we cannot know the thoughts and intents of their hearts.  There will be a day when the Savior comes to us, knowing our hearts, and will say, "Friend, go up higher".