Church
Former Megachurch Pastor Goes Church Hopping as a Newcomer
When finally given the opportunity to simply attend, and not preside or preach ...
Opinion
Gay by Choice?
Are all homosexuals "born that way"? Not if you believe the testimony of a ...
Theology
10 Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam
In recent years, several self-proclaimed evangelicals, or those associated with ...
Opinions
A New Path to Upward Mobility – Get Married and Stay Married
Marriage, we have just learned, is a major cause of the growing great divide ...
Read: Luke 18:9-14
'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' (v. 13)
Everybody you know has a self-assessment. The question is: how do we arrive at our self-assessment?
The Pharisee considers himself a virtuous man. How does he arrive at his self-assessment? By looking down. He chooses a lowly tax collector as his standard, and of course the difference between himself and this man is considerable. It's easy to look tall when you stand alongside someone short.
The tax collector views himself as a sinner. How does he arrive at his self-assessment? By looking up. God's searing righteousness is the standard by which he measures himself. No wonder he pleads for mercy.
It is so tempting, and so easy, to find some convenient sinner, some moral short person to stand alongside of, and to use him or her as a standard. And so we glide into pride, so involved in our spiritual primping, so busy congratulating ourselves that we are not like other people, that it doesn't occur to us that we're not much like Jesus, either.
Like us on Facebook
When we measure ourselves by looking up, when biblical righteousness is our standard, how can we say anything other than what the tax collector said: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" And God is merciful. "I tell you," said Jesus, "this man went down to his home justified. . . ."
Prayer: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Used with Permission
