Humility before God

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Feasting and Fasting

Luke 18:9-14 The Message

The Story of the Tax Man and the Pharisee

^9-12 He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

¹³ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
¹⁴ Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

For Reflection

How many people did you try to become before you became yourself?  I suspect that if you have discovered who you are it was because you became engrossed in something larger than you.  You found out who you are because you lost yourself in a superordinate calling.  Folks rarely find themselves when they seek to do so. 

 

Did the Pharisee find himself by looking into a mirror that reflected only the costume of pride that hid his true identity?  Did the taxman look at himself in a more authentic way?
 

Pray

for the ability to look into God's eyes to find your self mirrored as God sees you.  Pray to discover God's grace at work in your life.  Pray for a humble life in the hollow of God's hands.