Day 35 -- Luke 18: 9-14 - Deborah R.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not
like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But
the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to
heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I
tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified
before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
You
know that way to read scripture—identifying with a character in the
passage? This is one that hits really hard since I often find myself in
the very first clause. It is so easy to depend on the doing: going to
church; not just reading but studying the Bible; praying regularly etc.
etc. etc.
But Jesus is very blunt. Those doing things do not justify us before God. It is always the being, having a humble heart.
Jesus,
the ultimate example, is on his way to demonstrate the greatest
humility the world has ever know—being obedient unto death, even death
on a cross! The daily prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy
on me a sinner” can re-orient us from our self-confidence to complete
trust in God. Isn’t that what pleases him?
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