Living in the Spirit

October 23, 2022

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.’

Acting holier-than-thou or self-righteous is often the result of people not being comfortable in their own skin. The need to constantly prove that we are better than others tends to grow from not loving ourselves as a person of unique worth. The faith problem with that way of thinking is we cannot fully clasp the idea of loving our neighbors, all our neighbors if we do not love ourselves. Fully accepting ourselves as we are does not mean we do not need to dedicate ourselves to becoming fully the person God created us to be.

Many of the problems in our world today are based on our not loving ourselves enough to be who we can be. We may have received messages that we were inferior. I will never forget asking a judge to authorize our agency to remove children from their home because the children were being severely abused and neglected. The judge finally signed the order, handed it to me, and said, “That family has always been worthless, you are not going to change that but if you want to try go ahead.” I pondered as I left the office that they sure are not going to change if everyone thought as he did. I read in the paper several years later the story of a beloved policeman and all the wonderful things he had done for the community who had been killed in a car wreck. He was one of those children.

Prayer: Lord, help us look for the worth in ourselves and others so we all can model our lives after Christ’s. Amen.

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.