Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Patrick Miller.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I can be very conscious of my social surroundings.

When I walk into a room, I can tell almost immediately who the important people are,

which conversations will be the most interesting, and where I should go if I want to walk out of the

room one rung higher in the cosmic scale of social stature and the eyes of men. So perhaps it's no

surprise that it takes a force of will not to follow the magnetic power of status,

not to go directly to the place in the room that I think will make the most of me.

And perhaps it's no surprise that I fail and I give into the temptation.

But I've learned a few things from my failures when I've gone running after status.

And the first thing I've learned is this.

Just because I want to be around the most important person in the room doesn't mean that person

wants to be around me. You see, I'm not the only one equipped with social radar, nor am I the only

one avoiding a social downgrade. So what happens when you're the one who downgrades others?

Here's the reality. Being a pastor

doesn't really make you the person that people want to hobnob with unless you're in a church.

I'll never forget having one of these moments. I was at a dinner with a group of very wealthy men

with backgrounds and business and finance. There are a few professional athletes and celebrities.

And so to state the obvious as the only pastor there, I was a bit of an odd duck. But I find that when I feel the most insecure,

that's when I find it most difficult to resist the allure of chasing after status. It's almost like

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