Thursday, February
26, 2015, 7:28 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Blessed Are You.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Luke 18:9-17
(NASB).
Pride and Humility
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.”
This should be a warning to all of us to guard our hearts
against pride, and against trusting in our own intellect, reasoning, physical
health or strength, talent, and/or human resources, and against thinking
ourselves somehow superior to others whom we may deem less fortunate than us.
We are all human beings. We are all born into sin. And, we only have what we
have by the grace of God, no matter what it is. Outside of faith in Jesus
Christ we are all destined to spend eternity in hell, without hope and without
God. None of us earn or deserve our own salvation. We are only saved by God’s
grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Even the faith to believe is a gift from
God. God is completely sovereign over our lives, so what he has given to us he
can also take away. All that we have in the way of material wealth or intellect
or prestige is all destined to perish. One day we will all die and we will have
to stand before God and give an account to God for what we did with Jesus. So,
no matter how important we may think we are in this life, it will count for
nothing in eternity.
I find it particularly interesting that Jesus said the
Pharisee was praying to himself. I wonder how many people pray, thinking that
they are praying to God, but they are really just praying to themselves. So,
what precipitates people praying to themselves thinking they are praying to
God? First of all, if someone is a non-believer in Jesus Christ, and thus does
not have a relationship with God, and if that person is not humble before God,
and is unwilling to accept Jesus as Lord of his life, and he thinks he is
righteous in himself because he is a “good deed doer,” then that might be an
occasion when one would pray to himself. Or, the same could apply to someone
who has a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. If we are
holding on to sin in our lives, and we are not willing to humble ourselves
before God in repentance, and so we are just playing Christian, and we are just
going through the motions in order to appear righteous, we may be guilty of
praying to ourselves and not to God at all, because we are just performing and
we are not really communicating with God.
On the other hand, if we are like the tax collector in
realizing our own sinfulness and our need of Jesus Christ, and we humble
ourselves before God, then he will exalt us. We don’t need to exalt ourselves.
God will hear our prayers, and he will answer them. We just need to realize our
own unworthiness, and submit our lives to the cross of Christ and to following
our Lord Jesus in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives. We need
to find in Jesus Christ our all-sufficiency instead of relying upon our own
human resources. And, we need to be humble, as well, when it comes to how we
treat others, realizing that we are no better than anyone else, for we were all
born into sin and we all need Jesus to save us.
Misunderstanding
And
they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but
when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them,
saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not
receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
The culture of that day and country is so much different
than the culture of today here in America, so it is difficult for me to
identify with what the disciples were thinking or why they rebuked the people
for bringing their children to Jesus. The closest my understanding comes to
this is that, in my childhood years, there was an attitude among many adults
that children were to be seen but not heard. I have little recollection of any
kind of relationship with my grandparents. Neither of my grandfathers paid much
attention to me or to my siblings and cousins unless we were doing something
bad, I think. One grandfather lived in town. My other grandfather and my
step-grandmother I never knew at all. They lived out of town. Even the one time
I do remember us visiting them, we kids slept in the car and I don’t think either
of them spoke with us. I never had any communication with them at all.
I don’t know why they were the way they were. Perhaps it is
just the way they were taught, i.e. it was the culture under which they were
brought up. I suspect much was the same for the disciples. From what I
understand, women and children back then were considered more like property and
were not regarded with the same degree of importance and value as men. Yet,
Jesus treated all people – male, female and children – with the same amount of
love, concern, respect, care and value. That means the world to me! So, I think
the disciples were operating under a misunderstanding. I believe they thought
Jesus would be bothered somehow by having children brought to him, and so they
thought what they were doing, perhaps, was being helpful and was showing
consideration of their master and Lord. Yet, they didn’t understand that Jesus
came for all people, and he loved everyone equally.
Jesus used this situation as an opportunity to teach a
spiritual lesson. Children tend to be very trusting and believe easily. Their
minds are not cluttered with a whole bunch of knowledge which might hinder many
adults from having such child-like faith. So, children serve as wonderful
examples of having the kind of faith that is necessary for us to have in Jesus
in order for us to enter the kingdom of God. The tax collector in the story
above had this kind of child-like faith. This kind of faith takes Jesus at his
word, and does what he says. If Jesus says we must die to our old lives of sin
if we want to come to him, this faith believes him and it acts on that belief
by doing what is required, yet not in human strength or wisdom, but in the
power and working of the Holy Spirit. Child-like faith is humble, submissive,
obedient, and trusting. And, this is the kind of faith we all need to have.
The Objects
The objects of this misunderstanding by the disciples or of
the contempt shown by the Pharisee were those who were poor in spirit, i.e.
they were humble and trusting in God. They were rejected because they were
considered as less valuable than other people. Perhaps we might identify with
the Pharisee or with the disciples, and God is speaking to our hearts that we
need to not ever think of others as less valuable than ourselves.
Or it could be that we have been the objects of such disdain
or misunderstandings, and so we identify with the tax collector or with the
children, and thus we are so grateful for God’s love for us and that Jesus does
not treat us like other humans have treated us. Yet, maybe we have
unforgiveness in our hearts towards those who have mistreated us and we need to
repent of that sin, or perhaps we have been depressed over our misfortune, and
so we need to trust in God’s sovereignty over our lives and consider it all joy
whenever people persecute us. Jesus said we are blessed when we are treated
thus, and we should rejoice. We should forgive those who have mistreated us,
and we should pray for them, say kind things about them, and we should do good
to them. And, we need to keep on obeying our Lord despite how others treat us,
and then just rest in God’s love, because he cares for us.
Blessed
Are You / An Original Work / August 29, 2012
Based
off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984
“Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who are poor
For God’s kingdom is yours.
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who are hungry,
You’ll be satisfied.
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who weep now,
For you will laugh with joy.
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you when men hate
And reject you because of Christ.”
“Rejoice in that;
Rejoice in that day and
Leap for joy; great your reward.
But I tell you;
But I tell you to love those
Who hate you; do them good.
Pray for those who;
Pray for those who treat you wrong
And say kind things of them.
Do to others;
Do to others as you would have
Them do; have them do to you.”
“If you love those;
If you love those who love you,
What praise is there for you?
Because Christ is;
Because Christ is kind,
Be merciful, just like He is.
Forgive others;
Forgive others their offense
Against you; be ye kind.
Hear My words and;
Hear My words and put them
Into practice, then you’ll be fulfilled.”
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