devotional post #2024

Luke 18:9-14

Luk 18:9 Jesus also spoke to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. This was his illustration:
Luk 18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of these people: violent robbers, unrighteous people, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
Luk 18:13 But the tax collector stood far off and would not even look up skyward, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, please show mercy to me, I am a sinner!’
Luk 18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home in a right relationship with God rather than the Pharisee. Because everyone who lifts himself up will be levelled off, but he who levels himself off will be lifted up.”

true humility

The tax collector gives us a kind of wisdom that cuts straight through all our religious instincts. He had no résumé to present, no spiritual achievements to highlight, no list of disciplines to impress God with. He stood at a distance, unable to lift his eyes, and simply confessed the truth about himself. And Jesus said that man—broken, honest, repentant—went home right with God.

What makes his example so challenging is that both he and the Pharisee were “churchgoers.” Both prayed. Both believed in God. Both participated in the life of the community. So the lesson cannot be that we avoid spiritual practices in order to stay humble. That would only be pride in disguise—refusing to worship because we want to appear lowly. The tax collector didn’t avoid the temple; he came. He didn’t avoid prayer; he prayed. The issue was not attendance but attitude.

And that is where the struggle lies for us. The more we try to deepen our relationship with God—through prayer, Scripture, service, and generosity—the more subtle the temptation becomes to admire our own progress. We begin to compare. We begin to measure. We begin to congratulate ourselves for being serious, committed, or spiritually mature. Before long, we find ourselves standing where the Pharisee stood, rehearsing our virtues and quietly assuming that God must be pleased with us because we are not like “other people.”

But the tax collector shows us a better way. He teaches us that the heart God receives is the heart that knows its need. Repentance is not self-loathing; it is truth-telling. Humility is not pretending we have nothing to offer; it is acknowledging that nothing we offer could ever earn God’s favor. The moment we stop trying to impress God is the moment we become able to receive grace. And grace—not performance—is what makes a person right with God.

So we keep going to church. We keep praying. We keep serving. But we do it with the posture of the tax collector: aware of our need, grateful for mercy, and unwilling to trust in anything but God’s compassion. That is the path to a right relationship with him.

LORD, in all our attempts to please you, keep us from arrogance.