“At Least It’s Not Me”

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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.’ – Luke 18:10-12

How often, in reality, is this our attitude? My guess is that we try not to be this way…or at least pretend to try. But I think if we’re honest, this is the kind of thing that goes through our head. Maybe not even in prayer but everyday life. We think, man, I’m not a great person or I don’t live in great conditions but at least I’m not like *insert low life here*.

With the Pharisee being the religious leader of the community you’d think they would have a lot of love for the people but here it seems to be clear that they don’t love others at all. They care only for the looks of being righteous.

The Tax collector, on the other hand, is someone pretty much no one liked. The Pharisee makes it pretty clear in his prayer that this must not be a guy you want to be. But let’s see how he comes in to pray:

“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!’” – Luke 18:13

Which one of these do you think was justified? That Pharisee is doing all the right things, right? But at least the Tax collector was honest and humble? So which one?

“I tell you, this man [the tax collector] 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 18:14

No one is righteous. Not even one. Paul talks about that in Romans. As soon as we get to a place of thinking we have anything good of ourselves to offer, we’ve gone too far in the wrong direction.

Instead of comparing ourselves to others, what if we look to God and say, “how can I serve You better and how can I love others better?” When we do that, then we can start to get out of our perfect self mindset.