Daily Bread_March 7, 2014

Title: What Would Jesus Say About You?

Text:

Luke 18:9-14 (ESV)
⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ 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!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man 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.”

Observation:

This is what leaped off the page and into my heart as I read this passage. There is a lack of prayer and a lack of humility among God’s people today. O that we would examine ourselves, and see ourselves through the eyes of Jesus. What does Jesus see when He looks at me? Consider what Jesus saw when He looked at the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Luke 18:11 (ESV)
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.

Luke 18:13 (ESV)
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!’

This is what Jesus said when He looked into the hearts of the two men. The tax collector was justified, and the other was not. What would Jesus say about you?

Luke 18:14 (ESV)
I tell you, this man 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.”

Prayer:

Father God, stir our hearts and change our minds until we abandon our arrogance, and embrace humility; may we all be more like Jesus; people of prayer and humility. In His name I pray, Amen.

--

Matthew 4:4 (HCSB)
⁴ But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Psalm 2:8 (HCSB)
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession.

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