Who's Black?

Luke 18: 10-14
¹⁰ “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.
Sounds like the first line to a good joke doesn’t it? But this story told by Jesus is not a joke in fact it was a serious enough problem then for Jesus to address, and it is not any better today. Jesus goes on to say:
¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
Two things come to mind here that are still big problems today and the first is pride. Notice that the Pharisee used the word I, seven times in two verses. It was all about what he had done. He gave God no credit for the things he was able to accomplish. Do you have that problem? If you’re honest with yourself whenever you do something right or good especially over a period of time you may very well end up giving credit to yourself. Be mindful of that and remember to give God the glory.

The second thing here is the at least I’m not as bad as the other guy attitude. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. This too runs rampant in today’s society. For we all sin, however we all feel better about ourselves and justify our sins as soon as we find a person or a sin that is worse than us. As sinners we are all experts at this.
We all need to take a lesson from the despised tax collector who comes into play in verse 13.
¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
He stood back would not even look to Heaven, he knew who he was a sinner and was deeply remorseful and asked for forgiveness. Then in verse 14 Jesus tells us how it all sakes out for the two completely different people.
¹⁴ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The question you need to ask yourself today is how much Pharisee is there in me? Find your inner Pharisee, and kill it.