How Humility Handles Our Relationship with God
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody 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 up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
It is humility that keeps us from the self-righteousness of the Pharisee. Problem is that the longer we are Christians the more like the Pharisees we become. We forget what it was like to really need a Savior, to be so aware of our sin that we were drawn to God's grace and mercy. We forget what being forgiven really means and we lose the experience of being cleansed because we think we are clean. We set up rules and regulations and standards that we require others to meet before we welcome them into our fellowship and we do it in the name of being "pure" in Christ. How far from the truth we stray. The author offered three warning signs that we are becoming like the Pharisees:
- You become confident in yourself
- You become condemning of others
- You become content with externals
This weekend some Radical Homosexuals staged a protest at a local church in Lansing. Many comments from Christians were condemning of the people not just their behavior. Some wanted a measure of revenge. Some were glad, "we're not like them". How quickly we slide into Pharisee mode and the kingdom of God is not advanced or helped.
Humility reminds me that apart from Christ's work in my life I am no different from those who are at war with God. Being aware of God's work in me makes me more aware of my need for His mercy, grace and forgiveness. How can I condemn those for whom Christ died? Pride is an awful master and leads us to disaster. Today I want to shed any vestige of being a Pharisee and realize that I need God's mercy and must offer it to others.
What did this reading say to you?
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