Promotion

I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck’ For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.  Ps 75:4-6 (NKJV)

Many of us associate promotion with getting on ahead in life; moving on and up to a larger responsibility and presumably a bigger pay package.  For the self-employed, promotion comes about by being successful in one's business and being able to extend or expand one's enterprise.  Now the way we get 'promoted' in life is important.  Some of us claw our way to the top by back-stabbing others and leaving a trail of unhappy people along the way.  Such people are usually the self-conceited ones whom the psalmist described above.  We need to be wary of people with such an arrogant attitude - they think too highly of themselves, bull-dozing their way in life.  They may get their way for a season but eventually God will put them down. 

In God's economy of things, He chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27-28).  God chose the way of the cross to display His beloved Son to the world, hung between heaven and earth.  This is indeed foolish to the Gentiles - a dying God on the cross who is unable to save Himself - very weak indeed!  But Paul proclaims that this is precisely the power and wisdom of God made manifest (1 Cor 1:22-24).  If we ever want to be exalted in God's kingdom, we need to humble ourselves by accepting the free gift of grace offered at the cross of Calvary.  We do this by inviting Christ to come into our hearts through prayer.  Those who have done so and have passed on in this life has been said to be promoted to glory.  I think that's the kind of promotion we should look forward to - one that would last for all eternity.