Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ 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.’ 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. (Luke 18:10-14)
This devotion is late.
I hate it when I don’t hit deadlines, but the last 40 days have been sheer insanity. I’ll share more about that at a later time, but this wasn’t the only deadline I missed. It was a good lesson for me to learn on several levels. But I didn’t just want to NOT post something, especially because this passage is so important.
And, let’s be honest, it’s relevant.
In our online culture and society, it’s easier than ever to pretend that everything is fine when it’s not. The personal connection we used to have as a society that spent real quality time together is frayed and falling apart in many instances. We rely on social media now to determine and evaluate how another person is doing, and that isn’t a great metric because social media isn’t real life.
Just because someone looks like they have it all together on social media doesn’t mean they do. The lifestyles portrayed in images on Instagram and TikTok and whatever the latest social media network of choice is are easy to manipulate. I just heard the other day that a good percentage of people on BookTok who are all about book reviews haven’t even read the books they’re promoting. That surprised me, although it probably shouldn’t have.
Human beings love attention. We love to be noticed and acknowledged as successful or worthy of following. Our egos crave recognition. And, let’s be honest, recognition by itself isn’t inherently bad. It’s good to acknowledge when someone has done a good job. It’s biblical to praise what is worthy of praise, but earning praise is hard work. Legitimate recognition requires sacrifice and focus and effort, and it’s so much easier to fake it, to pretend like you’ve done all the work when you haven’t even done the bare minimum.
Jesus told this story in the gospel of Luke to demonstrate the difference between those who are confident in their own righteousness versus those who know how much God has done for them. The religious leaders of the day were haughty and proud and self-righteous, claiming that they were holier and better than the average person because of all the laws they kept. I guess some of it was true; they were rigid in discipline, focused on the minute details of right and wrong, and unyielding in their definition of justice. But because of how they lived, they considered themselves better, and deep inside they weren’t any different than the next sinner in line.
It’s easy to call the Bible a book of rules you have to follow to be righteous. To be fair, the Bible does have a lot of rules, a lot of direction, a lot of guidance, but none of the rules listed in Scripture have anything to do with making ourselves righteous. Rules in Scripture are intended to help us live a godly life—not to justify us in God’s sight. Nobody can live righteously enough to earn holiness. That’s what the religious elite in Jesus’ day misunderstood. That’s what those who cling to religion today get wrong too.
The tax collector in Jesus’ story got the message. He knew how wicked he was. He understood that nothing he could do would redeem his soul, so he approached God with humility and begged for mercy. God hears prayers like that. God sees hearts like that. God answers people with that attitude.
All of us are going to fail at some point. That’s not to say we should give up and just expect mediocrity, but it’s important to know so that we don’t place our value or our personal identity in our successes (or our failures).
When you present yourself as holy and righteous outside of God’s mercy, there’s not much He can do for you other than let you go your own way. So go for it. Exalt yourself all day long. Demand attention and recognition of your sacrifices and prove to everyone around you how good you are. Eventually, your own actions will give it away and reveal you as a fraud.
But if you want God to exalt you, if you want God to acknowledge you, there’s only one way: Humble yourself.
Understand where you’d be without God. That will show you how you should approach the Lord when you come to Him. When you choose humility, God will reward you. And His rewards are better than anything you can get by showing off to the world.
Questions for Reflection
Why is it so difficult to be humble?
What makes choosing humility so scary?
Why do you think people choose to exalt themselves rather than waiting for God’s?
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