02/15/2024
My personal devotional reading yesterday and today have both dealt with the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. This is such an intense lesson in prayer, humility, and maintaining a Christ-like posture as we live out our lives. It not only teaches us how to face our sins, but how we should humbly pray for forgiveness, and how we are not meant to exalt ourselves. Jesus taught us many things, but we never saw him put someone else down in order to raise himself up. He was humble, and meek.
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””
Luke 18:9-14 CSB
I'll bet that this is a parable that each of us knows very well, and I suspect that having just read it that the theme of humility is forefront in our minds, but what struck me this morning is quite different... My thoughts centered on this... what happened in this tax collector's life that caused him to drop to his knees before God and feel so ashamed that he couldn't even look up? What led him to this prayerful encounter with God in the first place?
In reality, there is no way for us to know what brought him to his knees, but we do know what brings each us to ours. Sometimes we are brought to them by huge sins that cripple us in life... while at other times by less obnoxious sins, and disappointments, that accumulate until they finally overwhelm us. Whatever the reason, we find ourselves humbled and unable to look up like the tax collector, and we pray for forgiveness. Let’s pray today that we are not caught up in the snare of pride, and self-absorption, like the Pharisee was, and that we don’t miss what Jesus has been teaching us in His gospel…. which is to love God, to love our neighbors and enemies, to be obedient, show humility, and so many other virtues like not judging or denigrating those around us in an attempt at lifting ourselves up.
Prayer is our outlet when it comes to the sin in our lives. Prayer allows us to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Prayer allows us to humble and prostrate ourselves before God. Prayer allows God to answer us, teach us, forgive us, and lift our faces back up towards Him. Prayer is also an emotional bridge between us and the divine.
So today I am going to think about the life of the tax collector and relate it to my own, and I am going to think about the prayer of the pharisee and compare it to my own prayers. Then I will pray as I should with humility and contrition... seeking God in all of his mercy and grace. I know that if I do this God will remove the log jam of many sins, and lift the weight of the monumental ones too. But, if I consider myself to be without sin, and better than others, which includes the tax collectors, then I will surely be lost. I will have made myself the god of my own life, and used God’s Word in an attempt to bring honor and glory to myself.
Prayers of contrition, offered in humility, are the prayers of Saints... penitent, confessing our shame, humble in nature, and once we have offered them, God will forgive us and lift us to our feet exalted and justified... Just as the parable we read today promises.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for hearing our prayers as we humble ourselves before you. Thank you for teaching us to turn our spiritual vision inward so that we are not tempted to compare ourselves with those we believe are less than us in an attempt to appear righteous and holy. Lord help us to pray lovingly, as we should, readily admitting our sins and shortcomings, and not attempting to glorify ourselves at the expense of others… or in an effort to convince you that we are something we are not… without sin. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, and you alone are perfect and good. We praise you, honor you, and lift you up beyond all else. We humble ourselves before you, and give you all the glory for every good thing you do, and every sin we are forgiven. No sin is forgiven by our efforts, no soul is saved that you did not draw it to Christ, and any righteousness we might perceive we have comes from you, and you alone. Open our hearts to the gospel of your Son Jesus, and when at last we stand before you in judgement we pray that it is His image that you see in us, and not our own pride and arrogance in what we believe we have accomplished. Have mercy on our souls Lord, and call us your beloved children in whom you are well pleased. Nourish us at your table, and then walk lovingly with us in the cool of the evening forevermore.
Rich Forbes