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 up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9–14, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Jesus, who had every right to exalt Himself, did not. Likewise, “[Our] attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5–11, NIV 1984).
My Advice – “If you have played the fool and exalted yourself…clap your hand over your mouth!” (Proverbs 30:32, NIV 1984). It takes great humility to admit we are sinners and to ask forgiveness. But that is the only way to come to God through Christ. But how arrogant and self-exalting it is to claim we are good enough to enter His Kingdom on our own merits. So, on bended knees, let’s “humble [ourselves] before the Lord, and he will lift [us] up.” (James 4:10, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 