Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The Pharisee or the Tax Collector?

Something struck me last night, reading the verse from Luke 18: 9-14, the parable about the Tax Collector and the Pharisee. 
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:  “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.’
    “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.’
    “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.”

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It stands to reason that we all have egos from time to time and sometimes let them take control, because we want to be the one's in control and seem like the better person for an incident that may have occurred.  That being said, where exactly does that put us if we were to be like that standing in front of God on judgment day?

We shouldn't be the one's being the high and mighty and lording it over others.  We should search deep within ourselves and realize that we too are human, and though we may feel like it is us that should be in "the right," there is only one person who has the right to be Right.  and that.  IS. God.

I will admit that this has been and will always continue to be a daily struggle with me, because so many times things that happen to me, I want to have the world take my side.  NO. NO. NO.  That should not be happening.  If there is anything that God has taught me, is that only through Him is anything possible.

Last night at Bible Study, (which incidentally was on the Pharise and Tax Collector, I felt God stirring in me, reminding me that so many times when I had felt wronged and wanted vengeance, that I was not only hurting myself, but that I was hurting Him, because I was rejecting God's forgiveness.

We can't let ourselves be the bigger person in anything.  We need to submit to God, all things, whether it be our personalities or our relationships.  He is the one in control.  He is the one who is.