Kingdom Building
October 27, 2019
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Inferiority complex an acute sense of personal inferiority resulting either in timidity or through overcompensation in exaggerated aggressiveness; broadly: sense of being inferior or at a disadvantage: lack of assurance*.
It is a paradox but people who appear on the outside to be overly invested in themselves often feel inferior on the inside. The results are negative for them and others whether they withdraw from the world, thus robbing the world of their talents, or whether they present themselves like the Pharisee in the scripture above as being better than others. They have not incorporated in their being the depth of Jesus’ identifying the commandment to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Feeling the need to be better than another is not loving them. We are only able to love all others when we can accept that God’s love for us gives us all the worth, we need. Our loving the other demonstrates to God how much we love God as much as it tells the other that we recognize that God loves them too.
We are forgetting John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’ Our worth was established when we were made in the image of God. Our worth was further proved when God gave his only Son for each and everyone of us.
Prayer: Lord, heal our souls so that we may as fully as we possible can understand the depth and breadth of your love for us. As you teach us to love ourselves enable us to love all your children. Amen.
*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/inferiority%20complex
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.