And
He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
“Two
men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. The Pharisee stood and was
praying this to himself: ‘God I thank you that I am not like other people:
swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that
I get.’
“But
the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up
his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me,
the sinner!’
“I
tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be
exalted.”
Luke
18:9-14
Jesus
wants us to understand that we have accomplishments of which we can be proud,
but when we come before God it is neither the time nor the place brag because
God knows everything about us. He knows
none of us are perfect.
We
may do many things which are good and right, but we need to humble ourselves
and acknowledge that as good as we may be, it only takes one sin to make a
sinner and we all have at least one of those.
Let
us remember to thank God for His forgiveness and for His blessings and consider
that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. We are no better or worse than anyone and we
are all loved by God.
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