The astute look.
Everyone be sure and thank this lovely lady for hosting us tonight at her house. If the bonfire gets rained out, she's gonna cook a huge dinner for us all.
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"The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." --Luke 18:11-14
I don't think I've ever prayed without this parable coming to mind. Maybe it's God's way of trying to keep me humble. Not sure that always works.
If you're like me, you picture the Pharisee standing there, arms high, big, pious smile on his face proclaiming his righteousness to everyone who hears. Sort of a poster-child example of extreme pride and self-unawareness. But maybe he's not so outrageous after all.
How many times do we do the same thing? How often do we go to God with our daily checklist all marked up in the "completed" column and expect a big ol' pat on the back? We might not tout our works or our perfect walk, we'll even smugly throw in our "little" transgressions with an arrogant chuckle and an it's-not-that-bad attitude. But we do have the audacity to approach God with our torches held high and banners a-waving proclaiming the marvelous and wondrous heavenly tasks we are accomplishing.
I can imagine God saying, "Sheesh! You're killing me here. Tell you what, why don't you let me decide what's right and wrong and you just follow my direction. I have the only checklist that matters and all it says is, 'depends on my mercy.' Shut your mouth, get on your knees, and listen to ME for once. I'll do the blessing and exalting around here."
Okay, so God's probably not quite the smart aleck that I am but, after a few thousand years, He deserves to get a little put out with us.
The tax collector doesn't even offer an explanation. He doesn't even mention the smallest thing to help his case. He straight up begs for God's mercy.
Why don't we do that? Why don't we put down all our self-righteous projects, our scorecards, our motives and ambitions, and just go to God empty. Just go to Him seeking to be filled with Him and what He wants, instead of what we think He wants to hear, like the Pharisee.
I'm not trying to end the week on a sour note, I just think that if we are going to get prayer right, we need to look at it from the perspective of the tax collector, poor and needy, needing what only God can give. The encouragement is that, as Jesus tells us here, that is what God truly wants to hear. That's what will send us away to our houses justified. And honestly, humility takes alot less effort than exalting ourselves, because you don't have to constantly think of fake stuff to say about yourself.
Happy Friday!!!
And, speaking of prayer, please remember my friend Vanessa and her family. Her aunt passed away today, and it's hitting kinda hard. Thanks.
