In Luke 14, we see the human way contrasted with the heavenly way again and again.
Should Jesus heal a man on the Sabbath? The human tendence is to remember the Sabbath law and its straightforward pronouncements against working on the Sabbath. The heavenly impulse is to view the man with compassion and see his healing as an act of deliverance.
Should you engage in shameless self-promotion and claw your way to the top of society? The human perspective is to look out for #1 and make yourself out to be a big deal. Heaven's advice is to engage in a little humility and take a seat beneath your position. When the time comes for re-assignment, you will be exalted rather than humiliated.
Who should you seek to bestow generosity upon? Taking the human path of winning friends and influencing people would cause you to focus on those who are close to you and can reciprocate. The guidance of heaven suggests that we spend our largesse on those who cannot pay us back. Our repayment will come later, at the resurrection.
The rest of this chapter contains equally hard sayings about those who reject the kingdom of God to attend to more pressing personal business, as well as the importance of setting God up as the number one priority in our life, to the point that it is like rejecting everything else. According to the Bible, heaven's way trumps the things of earth every time.
If you want to be challenged in your faith, Luke's portrait of Jesus is for you!
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