Luke 18:9-10
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.’
Many of us are familiar with the parable Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector who were praying in the temple. But do we really understand the meaning of the parable?
Humanity has always been deceived into thinking that if we are good enough, or if we perform some spiritual action, then God is obligated to pour out His blessings on our heads. Sorry, Folks, that is not the way it works. That is stuff Hollywood has dished out. It certainly is not the truth we discover in God’s Word.
The Pharisee in this parable used a prayer pattern that was given as a Babylonian Talmud Prayer. The focus was upon the self-righteous acts of the Pharisee who seemed to use prayer as an avenue of boasting. GOD HATES BOASTING!
Tucked away in a corner there was a tax collector. Tax collectors were despised by the people even more than the tax collectors in our day. This man recognized his sinful condition and cried out for the Lord to have mercy on him. Only one prayer reached the Throne of Grace. It was not the boastful prayer of the Pharisee, but the broken-hearted plea for mercy and forgiveness of the tax collector. What kind of prayers are you sending up to heaven?
Blessings, Dear Hearts, draw near to God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil