Have you ever seen someone get ahead of you when it makes no sense? Maybe they’re put into a leadership position quickly, while you’ve been serving and patiently waiting for your turn
? It can be easy to compare yourself in these situations, maybe even thinking it’s unjust. At first it starts out as pain but can quickly boil into, “nobody sees or values me!” or, “that person must’ve weaseled themselves in!”
What I’ve had to learn over the years is, you’ve guessed it—sometime life isn’t fair. But where does God, who is good and wants the best for you, fit in with this reality? Let’s take a look at this Flashback Friday video to get some clarity:
In a nutshell:
• Blessing flows through honor. A lot of us are working for the blessing that we could get for free.
• Many of us have an idea (because we’re afraid of authority) that we’re all equal. Although we are equal in value, we’re not all equal in our giftings, anointing and levels of favor.
• I used to teach at YWAM and they have a tradition of asking the speakers what God is saying to them in that season. This one time I went, I knew the question was coming but I had NO idea what to say.
• When they finally asked me I was getting ready to say, “I have no idea!” but instead I heard myself say, “We’re moving from a round table to a rectangular table.” I shocked myself because I had literally no idea what that meant!
• I went on to say, “In a roundtable everyone is equal, but at a rectangular table there are levels of honor.” The revelation continued to come out of my mouth…
• In Luke 14 Jesus talked about guests being invited to a wedding feast, and that there were levels of honor at the table. In the story, If you took too high of a seat then a guest may have to ask you to move because someone more distinguished than you was supposed to be in that seat!
• The YWAMers asked why we’d want to be at a rectangular table instead of a round one. Great question, given I had never had these thoughts in my life!
• I said “because if we’re at a round table we are relegated to sowing and reaping; we only get what we work for. However if we’re at a rectangular table, and we honor those who have more than us, then we receive for free what we would’ve had to work for.”
• Proverbs says that a righteous man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.God wants to create a legacy where there’s every increasing glory! But in order to do that we have to honor those who are over us.
• A rectangular table recognizes level of honor and the fact that we’re not all equal. God loves and values us all the same, but he favors us differently. That may hurt, but I want to propose to you that if you learn to honor, then you’ll actually reap the benefits of an inheritance.
• When we have nobody over us we’re relegated to sowing and reaping
and have nobody to release an inheritance over us. So our independence could be costing us a legacy!
THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT IS PARAMOUNT!
Before you get all puffed up and offended I want you to stop and think for a second. If this hit a nerve with you then maybe it’s time to recognize the fear of authority you may be walking in. If the idea that someone may have more favor than you hurts, then I think you may be looking at it all wrong. When we realize that honor brings an open door to inheritance, to a gift, and to rest, then it’s easy to set our hearts to a posture to receive. It’s not about competition. It’s not about proving yourself. Rather, it’s about aligning with where God has you in this season, so that you can receive the things you need to grow up into the next one.
CELEBRATION OVER COMPETITION
The next time jealousy
,
comparison, or anger kicks in when you see someone with more favor than yourself, channel that into celebration. For example, if you’re jealous
of the person who’s on the worship team, then decide to thank God for their gift and celebrate it in them! This posture of thankfulness will cause a chain reaction of blessing into your life.
I pray that as you read this that you would open yourself up to an increase in your gift of discernment, so that you may be able to clearly see the gifts in the people around you. If you don’t have a spiritual authority over you then I want to encourage you to ask God to reveal one to you and then humble yourself under them. The blessing that comes from being under a covering far outweighs the humility it takes to get there.
Do you find it easy to sit at a rectangular table instead of a round one? What have you learned about this subject and what do you still struggle with? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
