Luke 18:9 Also, to some who were relying on their own righteousness and looking down on everyone else, he told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Parush and the other a tax-collector. 11 The Parush stood and prayed to himself, ‘O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, immoral, or like this tax-collector! 12 I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on my entire income, . . . ’ 13 But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God! Have mercy on me, sinner that I am!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home right with God rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”
To some who were relying on their own righteousness and looking down on everyone else, he told this parable…
Gut check. Good thing we don’t rely on our own righteousness, right? RIGHT?!?!
We love feeling justified, don’t we? And that feeling of guilt is horrible.
When we make a mistake we quickly go to the reasoning why we did what we did. We might have had a good reason or we may have made a mistake. Either way, our pride runs in and starts going into overdrive.
But pride prevents repentance.
It covers our sins in our own mind and we feel as though we’re ok. Do this enough times and you get really good at deceiving yourself at a high level. Go even longer and you end up in such a twisted reality that almost everything you touch is full of manipulation. Witchcraft.
Once we’re here, it gets really dangerous. Once you become a master at manipulating people, you now turn to God.
“O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, immoral, or like this tax-collector! I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on my entire income, …”
Put another way:
“See, God? Can you see it? I do so many good things. You should eagerly want me to come as close as possible, right? Let me get on up in there and talk really loud so everyone knows how much better I am than that other guy in the back.”
“Wow, glad I’m not like them!”
How do you navigate life when there are so many selfish people in the world? Especially, when you are selfless and giving. It seems people just take and take without ever considering how it affects others. The nerve of those people!
We play many measurement games in our minds several times per day:
The list goes on.
It seems we are never at a loss when it comes to judging someone else. Now these are JV judgments in comparison to the ones believers get into:
Are these incorrect statements? Not necessarily. That’s what makes them so dangerous.
Have you ever gone through some of these then found out they were believers also? When that happens, we either feel bad we judged them or go into “the nerve of them” type of thinking.
We start to wonder if they’ve ever repented a day in their life based on how they operate.
We get into an actions vs intentions measurement model and keep score on our log sheet.
We assume that since we don’t do bad things and instead we do good things, we must be in a really good spot. We also assume that since we don’t behave poorly, we must have good standing.
But actions don’t matter in this situation.
Should you be greedy, dishonest or immoral? No, of course not. Does that mean that by default you are good? This is a resounding no.
Coming before Abba requires humility. It’s just you and Him. No one else belongs in that conversation. No one else belongs in that space.
We are to face Him and fully expose ourselves. What you have done good and what you have not done bad has no place here. Your full ugly self. Knowing exactly what you deserve and begging for forgiveness. Forgiveness for judging everyone you’re seen today. Forgiveness for ranking His creation in the order you see fit. Ranking them all based on how they compare to you. Ranking them based on what they have done to you.
Don’t assume your works will somehow justify you in His presence. If you think that counts for anything, you really don’t understand.
There may be a structure Yeshua pulls out in the Millenial Reign but that’s for Him to sort out, not us.
So…where are you in all of this?
Can you really see the filth inside of yourself? We can all see it.
Opening your mouth and making claims of purity and innocence is about as stupid of a move you can make. And that’s in front of us! Imagine how completely naked you are in front of Abba!
It’s critical to get rid of the pride and subsequent deception that follows. Living as a deceiver has only one real target: you. Once you are deceived, the manipulation will be in high gear. Go to the root, pride, and get that plucked out as quickly as you can.
Drop the self-justification so you won’t be pushed to the lowest position in the Kingdom. You’ll be there, but all of the showmanship you pulled off in this age will be an embarrassment in the Age to Come.
Is it really worth it?