Oh how easy it would be to say – at least I’m not that bad – when faced with:
- A pastor who steals money from the congregation and uses innocent children to gain wealth
- A church who is rumored to have hired thugs (hoodlums) to threaten another church
- Parents & guardians unwilling to accept responsibility for their child…even accusing others of not paying enough for their child’s education
- A shopkeeper who tries to double the price of an item simply because of the color of my skin
But as those words form in my mind I realize just how selfish, wicked and deceitful my own heart is and am reminded of this:
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We as a people tend to put levels of severity on sin but to God it is all sin. My arrogance in those thoughts is sin and should be enough to bring me to my knees and beg for forgiveness. Sometimes it does, other times I sit on my own throne and say “at least I’m not that bad”. But God always knocks me off that throne (sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently!) and I come back to His throne, sitting at His feet saying “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”