Luke 15:11-16

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything.

The Pharisees tried to discredit Jesus for using his association with sinners. If Jesus was comfortable with "Satan's people" while accusing the "people of God" of unrighteousness, he was certainly working with Satan rather than God. In this final of three parables, Jesus continues to respond to their charge by by telling what brings God true joy and glory.

The story begins with a father. In these days the father commanded respect and honor. But this youngest son shows him none. Asking for his inheritance early is akin to saying he wished his father were dead. He cares not for his father's guidance and wisdom; all he wants is his share of the possessions. Culturally, the father's response should be a public beating and disinheritance. But this father does not protect his honor. He divides his wealth between the two. The youngest son quickly liquidates his assets. Like those who trade in futures today, in the time of Jesus the youngest son would be able to sell his portion of the property at a discounted price. The purchaser would receive the property when the father died.

We call this man the "prodigal son". The word prodigal means "spendthrift", someone loose and free with their money. The son squanders his estate on parties and women. The word "loose" in Greek means he lived in a "wild, reckless, abandoned" manner. As usually occurs, he felt free for a time in his self-indulgence. But eventually the shock of the consequences hits us like thrill seekers flying through the air who suddenly realize that the bungee cord is not attached.

Becoming destitute was his doing, but the famine was out of his control. We know little of famine in America. People in famine situations have no access to any food. They eat any plant they can find, gnaw on shoe leather, even turn to cannibalism. In the midst of these circumstances to say the younger son "found himself in need" is an understatement.

He clings to an unclean Gentile in an unclean country and is sent to do the most unclean of tasks - feeding the pigs. He is not even paid for the job. He is not allowed to even eat the trash fed to teh swine.

We leave him here broken, in the mud, starving and surrounded by filth. The story continues tomorrow. Until then, consider how many times we stubbornly sit in the pigpens of our own making, refusing in arrogance to return to the Father.

Luke 15:8-10

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”


After having the Pharisees defile their mind by thinking like a shepherd, now Jesus insults them by comparing them to a woman! He sweeps away at their ridiculous pride like the woman in the story sweeps the dust from the corners of her house.

The woman in this story has ten silver coins - ten drachmas. Each was equal to an average day's wage. This was either money she had stored away to use as the family had need or it could be her dowry, sown into a headband worn at her wedding. Either way, it would be a big deal to loose something so precious.

I invented a game called "crazy clean" to play when something is lost in our house. The kids hate it. Rather than walking around looking for the "thing", we run around putting things away. The lost item is always found amid the clutter of our lives. Even in the less cluttered days of Jesus, a coin could be lost in a corner, hidden under dust in a crack in the floor, or under a pot along the wall. The woman would not simply think, "Oh well, I still have 90% of my money." No! She would frantically clean and search until that lost coin was found. In that moment, the lost coin is worth far more than the nine already safe.

Jesus is the woman in the story, seeking the lost sinner hidden under dust and debris. The coin is lifeless. It cannot cry out or aid in the search. The Savior pursues the sinner, reaching down to pick him up and restore him. The light of the gospel pierces the darkness, illuminating the soul of the lost. Jesus was willing to get dirty, to touch sin when he had never before been defiled. 

In the same way the woman calls her girlfriends over to rejoice when she finds the lost coin, God rejoices when one sinner is saved. Verse 10 says, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels". That means it is God himself who is rejoicing, and everyone around him joins in the celebration. How wonderful that the creator of heaven and earth, the Triune God of all, would rejoice and bring glory to himself through our repentance.

"The practical lesson to the unconverted is just this. Dear friend, see what value is set upon you. You think that nobody cares for you—why, heaven and earth care for you! You say, 'I am as nothing, a castaway, and I am utterly worthless.' No, you are not worthless to the blessed Spirit, nor worthless to the church of God—she longs for you... Welcome! welcome! why, the church is searching for you; the Spirit of God is searching for you. Do not talk of welcome, you will be a great deal more than welcome. Oh, how glad will Christ be, and the Spirit be, and the church be, to receive you! Ah! but you complain that you have done nothing to make you fit for mercy. Talk not so, what had the lost piece of money done? What could it do? It was lost and helpless. They who sought it did all; he who seeks you will do all for you." - C.H. Spurgeon

Luke 15:1-7

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So He told them this parable, saying,  “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.


Tax collectors and "sinners" had always been around while Jesus was ministering. I imagine they had kept to the shadows and edges of the crowd to avoid the scorn of the religious, but they were there nonetheless. Perhaps Jesus' messages of God drawing in the "less desirable" guests to his banquet gave them courage to gather closer to hear his words, wondering if salvation was possible for even them.

Tax collectors were usually Jewish men who bought from the Romans the right to set up a tax booth, collecting various tolls, customs, and taxes. The system was rife with corruption, and tax collectors were generally despised by the community at large. They were unpatriotic, dishonest, and unclean as a result of their profession. In a society where ritual purity took precedence over human relationship, no self respecting Pharisee or scribe would receive a sinner into his presence, much less eat with them and have the defilement rub off.

But Jesus is concerned with restoration, not religion. He tells three parables to illustrate this truth. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep." "Stop right there," the Pharisees think. "You want me to imagine myself as an unclean shepherd? I would not even want to defile my mind in such a way." The Pharisees would certainly place themselves among the 99 righteous who "need no repentance".

You see, shepherds performed a very necessary job. They protected the sheep that provided clothing, sacrificial lambs, and occasionally food to the community. But their job put them outside in the elements, exposing them to bodily fluids as they cared for the animals. They were constantly unclean in the eyes of the law. Sure, their greatest king had been a shepherd. Sure, God was described as being the shepherd of Israel in several passages of scripture, but no self respecting religious Jew in Jesus' day would have chosen that profession.

One person would not have owned one hundred sheep. A shepherd in charge of that many sheep would be pasturing the sheep for an entire community. He and one or two other shepherds would take the flocks out to graze and protect them from anything that came. You couldn't just say, "Well, I protected 99. That's a pretty good ratio." Your job was to bring back every last sheep - preferably alive and well, but if not you had better rip it from the jaws of whatever predator snatched it. The one lost sheep may belong to a family that had only one or two sheep. So the other shepherds might bring the 99 back, but the seeking shepherd was not coming back without #100. In this parable the shepherd finds the wandering sheep alive. He hoists the animal onto his shoulders, bearing the weight on the walk back to the village. By this time everyone has heard about the one lost sheep from the shepherds who returned with the 99. When they discover that the shepherd has saved the life of the sheep, rejoicing breaks out.

Ezekiel 34:23–24 records, "Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken." Jesus is setting himself up as the promised Messiah, come to seek and save the lost "sheep" of Israel (Luke 19:10). He receives the repentant back into the "flock". Bearing the burden of their transgressions on his own shoulders, he carries the full weight of the cost for their repentance and restoration.

The Pharisees may grumble, but all heaven of heaven rejoices. When a person is lost and is received back into the flock of faith, we should rejoice as well! Like the shepherd, we should indiscriminately seek the lost carry them to the Great Shepherd. Anyone cognizant of their own sin is ready for restoration.

        Surely he took up our pain
            and bore our suffering,
        yet we considered him punished by God,
            stricken by him, and afflicted.
        But he was pierced for our transgressions,
            he was crushed for our iniquities;
        the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
            and by his wounds we are healed.
        We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
            each of us has turned to our own way;
        and the Lord has laid on him
            the iniquity of us all.

        Isaiah 53:4-6

Luke 14:31-35

“Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”


Jesus continues his discourse to the crowd, having instructed them that being his disciple requires loving God more than family, friend, or even one's own life. It requires a willingness to suffer anything - even torture, ridicule, or death. Anyone considering becoming his disciple should consider this before beginning. As a man who begins a tower and does not complete it would be shamed by the community and mocked by a half built monument to his lack of planning, so is one who begins to follow Jesus and does not finish.

Consider the cost. A king would be foolish not to assess the strength of the other army before going into battle. He would estimate the possible cost to his treasure reserve and the lives of his men. If he knows he will lose, he will be willing to compromise and give up money or freedom to avoid annihilation. Anyone desiring to be Jesus' disciple must consider whether he is willing to lose possessions, suffer injury, and even lose his life in the battle. Of course, without becoming his disciple there can be no lasting terms of peace.

Salt has been a valuable preservative since ancient times. It certainly adds flavor, but in the days before refrigeration, salt was one of the best ways to keep meat from turning rancid. In Leviticus 2, God's instructions about bringing offerings included salt. Salt was symbolic of loyalty to the covenant of God, preserving the relationship between God and man. Salt from the Dead Sea contained a gypsum compound that could diminish the effectiveness of salt if not processed correctly. It would lose its taste and become ineffective as a preservative. It could no longer be considered salt. Useless, it would not even be good enough for the compost heap.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that his followers should be salt, so here he clearly refers to those calling themselves his followers. True followers retain their flavor and usefulness. Others may begin with the appearance of saltiness but over time lose their "saltiness". We can seem on the exterior like "salty" believers with all the appearance of holiness. We can focus on doing all the right things without being transformed on the inside. But as the gypsum in the Dead Sea compound eventually degraded the salt to the point that it could not be considered salt, so outward religiosity will eventually show itself to be false. Only the transforming power of the Holy Spirit can truly change our lives.

"The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers, the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ's warning and undertake to follow Him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. This is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called nominal Christianity. In countries to which the Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin veneer of Christianity. They've allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion, is a great soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism."

John Stott - Basic Christianity

Luke 14:25-30

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’


Jesus keeps trying to talk the crowds out of following him! Hate your family? Hate your life? What kind of seeker friendly operation is he running here? Doesn't he know you have to draw people in and then sort out the rest later? It's about reaching the masses, Jesus! Or... maybe we have it wrong in modern Christianity...

Massive crowds follow Jesus because of his healing, his teaching, and because it's the best show around at the time. Some are true followers, some are considering it, some are completely against it, and some are just there to see what happens.

Is Jesus contradicting verses such as Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 5:21-6:4 where we are instructed to honor our parents, love our families, and consider our family member's needs above our own? Hate seems like a very unchristian thing to do when Jesus says in John 13:35 that onlookers will know we are his disciples by our love.

"Hate" here expresses preference. In Malachi 1:2-3 (quoted in Romans 9:13) God says "Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated." This doesn't mean God had Esau's face on some heavenly dartboard. It means God gave his promise through Jacob, not Esau, showing his preference for the younger brother. It was also a Semitic expression used as a way to refer to loving someone less, as in Jacob loving Rachel more than Leah. His feelings are described as hating Leah, but clearly he had some feelings for her.

If we are to be true disciples, we are to love the Lord with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength. If family relationships conflict with what the Holy Spirit wants us to do, the Holy Spirit wins out. We must be willing to give up everything - all our possessions, our relationships, even our own lives. When Jesus gives similar instructions in Mark 10 he mentions that anyone who gives up family will receive a hundred times more in the present age, not to mention eternal life. This refers to the family we receive in the body of Christ.

Christians rarely experience true persecution in America. In other countries and religions, turning to Christianity can result in shunning, torture, or execution. Some in America are excluded by families when they convert. Some Americans might experience tension and misunderstandings with family members when they choose to follow Christ, and this should not be trivialized.

The Greek word translated carry, bastazo, means to take up in order to carry or bear, to put upon one's self or to bear what is burdensome. Bearing a cross indicates a willingness to suffer ridicule, pain, and suffering. It is a willingness to put one's life on the line if necessary. Carrying your cross to crucifixion was a mark of an outcast, an extreme criminal. To cling to Christ, you can hold on to nothing else.

In the days before bank loans and mortgages, it would be extremely foolish to begin a building project without securing the means to complete the project. Even today it is unwise to build a building without a plan to finish the building and repay any debts. Anyone seeing the incomplete project will shake their head at best and ridicule you at worst. Likewise, one who will be a true disciple of Christ you must be willing to complete the mission given to him. Many will begin the journey only to find they were the seed sown in shallow ground. Even if we never experience persecution of any kind, we must be willing in advance to suffer anything and give up everything if necessary.

Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it."  - Luke 9:23-24

Luke 14:15-24

When one of them who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’  Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’

“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

And the servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”


Jesus was attending Sabbath dinner at the house of a prominent Pharisee. He has blasted them for being unwilling to heal on the Sabbath when they would work to save a valuable ox or a beloved child. He has condemned them for seeking the place of honor at the table and only doing good to those who can repay the kindness. He concludes in verse 14 that those who are truly humble will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Most responded with silence, but one man clearly missed the point. He certainly thinks the previous parables were not about him and includes himself as one of the humble when saying that those who eat at the heavenly banquet will be blessed. He was proud to think himself as not too proud to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus follows this statement by telling an absurd story. A wealthy man invites people to a banquet. In these days without calendars and watches, a party planner sent out a pre-invitation. Then when the preparations were ready he would send another invitation. When the man in the parable sends his notice that the party is ready, it is impossible to imagine that anyone would not come. A really nice party could last for days of feasting and fun. In a world where daily life was repetitive and could feel mundane, such a celebration would not be missed.

But when the second invitation is received, all those invited make ridiculous excuses for not coming. The first needs to go check out the dirt in a field he has bought. The second, a clearly wealthy man, wants to see how at his five yoke of new oxen perform. The third has a wife who won't let him come. In this society the man was certainly the head of the house, so this is clearly an excuse. What wife wouldn't want to hit the party of the year?

The servant brings the shocking news back to the master. After all the preparation for an amazing feast, no one is coming! Beyond rudeness and breaching the social mores of the society, a refusal of this nature indicated that you wanted no friendship with the person throwing the feast. This group represents the Jewish leaders and the nation rejecting Jesus. They were pre-invited by the words of the Old Testament and were now the Messiah was telling them the banquet was ready. The master sends out his servant to invite the crippled blind and lame from the streets. This is the notably the same groups Jesus said should be invited to every banquet. This group would be confused at the invitation, knowing that they could not repay the feast. These attendees represent those in the Jewish nation who believed in and followed Jesus - those who mourned over their wretched spiritual state rather than believing they were entitled to salvation because of their Abrahamic ancestry and adherence to legalistic rules and traditions.

But there is still room at the banquet. The servant is sent out again to convince those in the countryside and byways to come to the banquet. This represents those outside the Jewish faith - the Gentiles. The master's house is now filled with a surprising guest list, and none of those originally invited taste so much as a slice of juicy lamb.

The Pharisees were self-sacrificing. They fasted, gave tithes to the temple, and followed minute laws added through the centuries to avoid even coming near sin. In Matthew 23 Jesus compares the weight of this burden as a cumbersome one, impossible to lift. The whole reason behind this was for personal glory on earth as well as the promise of eternal reward. They would not only be in heaven, but they would have the best seat at the table. This is why in Mathew 20 the mother of James and John requests that they sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in his kingdom. Your work on earth would be rewarded.

People today like religion to be comforting. As long as you do your best and believe something with all your heart, you're good. But Jesus always spoke to shatter false religious hope. He didn't tell his listeners, "Don't worry, we all worship the same God. You're good." No, Jesus said, "No one comes unto the Father except through me." He was tough.

We like to pat ourselves on the back as well. Yesterday the Barna Research Group released a survey examining whether modern day Christians are more like Jesus or more like the Pharisees. (Read an article about it here.) 51% of respondents chose beliefs and actions consistent with the Pharisees. 14% exhibit beliefs and actions consistent with Jesus. In the middle were Christians who show a mix of Pharisaical beliefs and Jesus' teaching. Evangelical Christians were more likely to have the actions of Jesus, but often had the actions of Jesus without the beliefs. Perhaps this is why Christians are branded as hypocritical. Even when practice the right behavior, we may have the wrong motives. Practicing Catholics were more likely to have Christ-like beliefs but Pharisaical actions. Women were more likely to be "Christ-like" than men, maybe because we tend to be more nurturing.

Authentic faith, in word and deed, is much more difficult than finding  and following "religion". Only the transforming power of walking with God, through the forgiveness of Jesus, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit can change us into the image of Christ. No amount of "effort" on our part will amount to anything.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” - 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Luke 14:7-14

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 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 the other guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”


Jesus' opponents are seething. They can make no reply after he confronts their hypocrisy. Having asked if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, he healed a man despite their added rules. They know that of course they love their son and would pull him from a well on the Sabbath; their ox is worth money and would be pulled out as well. But when it comes to another person's illness rather than your own needs or comfort, the law conveniently becomes more rigid.

Nevertheless, the Sabbath dinner goes on. The dinner party moves toward the table in uncomfortable silence. Jesus is a people watcher, and he is not finished blasting their religious notions with his observations. In the center of the room is a long U-shaped table. The host will seat himself at the head of the table. The most honored guests will sit on either side of him, then in order of importance the guests will seat themselves down either side.

Jesus sees them posturing for the best possible seat. Perhaps some of them were even asked to move up and down in the rank, humiliating some and puffing others up with pride. Have you ever accidentally sat down at the wedding banquet table reserved for the bridal party of family and had to move? Embarrassing! Just from a practical standpoint it is better to be asked to move up to a better seat than to be bumped down a level.

Let's be honest - we all want the best seat at a banquet. In high school you wanted to sit with your friends, or even longed for the "cool table". There was always concern over who has your lunch period. At church dinners we sit with our friends and enjoy the fellowship. With a big group going out to eat, it is tough to sit at the end with the little kids and hear the adult laughter but miss the joke.  It may be awkward to go sit and with someone who is alone or whom you find annoying. But we are called to seek humility and consider others better than ourselves. This does not mean we should never enjoy the fellowship of close friends and family. Instead it means we should long for the glory of God and the furtherance of his kingdom rather than the praise of man or our own comfort.

The Pharisee hosting the event is now thinking, "Man, Jesus is really laying into my guests. This is getting uncomfortable for them." Jesus turns to him and says "Oh, yeah, you too. It's pretty easy to invite over the other Pharisees and teachers of the law. They will in turn invite you over to repay your kindness as well as telling everyone what a great feast you threw. Big deal. If you really want to be righteous invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Invite the ones who cannot pay you back or bring you glory in the community." The Greek does not indicate that you should never invite your friends, but that you should not only invite your friends. You could rephrase his statement, "It is not so much trouble for you to invite your friends, brothers, and rich neighbors."

We always travel at holidays, but if we ever stay home I really want to invite a student from the local college who can't go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But even this would not be that difficult on my part. Imagine inviting over someone poor or homeless, someone without access to personal hygiene or proper attire for a party you held. Imagine inviting the disabled, guests whose needs make them more difficult to host. Considering the belief of Jesus' day that disabilities and disease were caused by sinfulness, imagine inviting prostitutes and drug dealers to your Sunday luncheon. Jesus asks a lot of people!

But this not another rule or religious construction. When making a dinner list it isn't necessary to write "Poor? Check. Crippled? Check. Lame? Check. Blind? Check." Jesus seeks a change of the heart. He desires followers who are humble and contrite who realize they are no better than those so easily excluded from society. But yes, we really must be willing to share our meals, our time, and our material blessings with those considered "less fortunate" or "less desirable" by our society today.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10