Confidence

One thing that I like to regularly remind the church before we begin a service is that we are not accepted before God today on the basis of our having, or not having, a mostly morally upright week, or on the basis of our keeping, or not keeping, a consistent devotional or prayer time, or on the basis of our feelings of worthiness or unworthiness. The only reason we are accepted and received by God today is that Jesus died for us and we simply agree with God that His sacrifice, not ours, is enough.

I love Jesus' parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. Jesus begins,

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable.

 Wow! This is me. This is most of us, religious or not. Jesus knows that we tend to put our confidence in ourselves. We compare ourselves to others (usually those worse than us) in order to justify ourselves. Though we may not think it, we try to be our own little "saviors."

Jesus goes on,

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

This is the religious one. This is the one who actually lived a pretty good life. This is the one who was certain that he was in a right standing with God. He was confident in his righteousness. Jesus continues,

 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Jesus concludes,

 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

How convicting! How often I am like the pharisee. My confidence rises and falls on how I perceive myself to be doing in relation to others. I am either doing good and am proud or doing poorly and am devastated. 

But how freeing! Jesus is saying that Christianity is unlike any other religion. You are not accepted based on the merit that you bring to the table. Your good deeds, your sincere devotional life, your vast knowledge of the scriptures: none of this is the basis of your salvation. 

No matter how good we've been this week, we are not beyond the need for God's mercy in Jesus. Yet no matter how much we've screwed up this week, we are not beyond the availability of God's mercy in Jesus. 

God wants our humility and repentance. He desires us to come, like the tax collector, and cry, "God have mercy on me, a sinner." God is glorified and we are made joyfully alive when we live dependent on his mercy.