January 20, 2022

 

Pharisee or Sinner?

 

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

 

How many times have we seen this verse on social media? People begging for Christians to bow down and pray for God to heal our land from this awful disease called Covid. People asking God to restore Himself to leadership in this land. People demanding that God restore Donald Trump to the presidency. People living in comfort crying out for God to increase their prosperity.

 

The one thing we haven’t seen a lot of are those same people admitting their own sins. They’re too busy pointing their fingers at the sins of others to acknowledge that maybe they should change their own hardened hearts before they demand the same of others.

 

If Christians truly lived as Jesus lived, our country wouldn’t need social media posts demanding our will from God. We’d be too busy praying and serving, extending kindness and grace and a helping hand. But that might cause us to get our own hands dirty. It might make us admit we’re wrong in our judgements of people we do not know.

 

In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector both going to the temple to pray. The Pharisee was thanking God that he wasn’t like other sinners. He was praising himself for fasting and tithing. The tax collector would not even lift his eyes to heaven as he begged God for mercy on himself, a sinner.

 

Which are you? Are you the Pharisee who is so busy praising himself that he has forgotten how to humble himself before God? Or are you the sinner who names himself as such as he bows before God Almighty? Reread 2 Chronicles 7:14. Are you the haughty Pharisee or the humble sinner? Your words and actions reveal your answer.

April 22, 2016

God Provides Justice

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” -- Luke 18:1-8

Some people have a great faith in our judicial system. I’m not one of them.

I realize it’s impossible for judges and juries to always make the right decision. But I also believe our judicial system is flawed, especially when it comes to those who can’t speak for themselves.

I’m talking about children. Right now we are reeling from a judge’s decision to reconcile a baby with his mother. I guess I just believe that a mother who either failed to protect her baby (and never reported injuries) or abused that baby, should never get him back. Ever.

The judge has a different opinion. Stories of children returned to abusive homes only to be permanently injured or killed keep running through my head. Not this baby, I beg God. Not this sweet child!

Years ago a couple divorced when their child was still a baby. The mother didn’t want custody and so his daddy raised him. Sometimes the mother would get him on the weekend. Sometimes she cancelled at the last minute because something better came along. His daddy was his constant caregiver.

Years later she met someone else and had another child. Suddenly she decided she wanted her first little boy to live with her. That child was ripped from a good home, against his wishes. Why? Because a mother who didn’t want him changed her mind?

In both cases, the courts put the wishes of the mother above the best interests of the child. Yeah. I know. Outside looking in. Except I know these cases well and it breaks my heart.

That little boy lived with his mother until the day he was old enough to decide for himself where he would live. He’s back with his Dad, where he should have been all along. It’s an answer to prayer and we are thankful.

The other little boy, that baby, well, all we can do is pray for his safety. We continue to pray that God will intervene. This baby who raises his tiny hand in worship, this child who is learning to love Jesus, should have that chance to serve His God.

I don’t plan to back away from this. I don’t plan to go quietly. None of us do. We want to bug God, to plead with Him, to ask for justice for this little boy. He deserves protection. We all do.

We serve a God of justice and mercy. He takes care of His children, especially the little ones who have no voice of their own.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

He Judges Me Worthy

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, thank you that I am not like other men -- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

But the tax collector stood at a distance, He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'"

-- Luke 18:10-13

The Pharisee is alive and well in numerous churches across our land. The self-righteous are shouting their own praises as they walk down the aisles to their established seats. Their eyes rest during the sermon. They've heard it all before. They're satisfied with who and what they are and they'll gladly tell you all about it.

I relate so much with the tax collector. No. I'm not a public official or even as accountant. I'm just a sinner trying to live her life as best she can. I fall down and God picks me, brushes me off and sets me on the correct path once again. It's a path He and I have walked numerous times throughout my life. I know I am not worthy of His love. I am forever amazed at His compassion, His forgiveness and His never ending belief that I am worth all the trouble I cause.

I have been a Christian since I fell to my knees as a teenager, lost and alone and ready to call it quits. My struggle with religion has been ongoing. I am put off by the hypocrites and judges who look down on people who have not always lived a "christian" life. I see people who have struggled in the past try to right their wrongs and move forward toward Christ. And I have seen the people who regularly inhabit churches treat them as unwelcome guests and screw-ups who will never be worthy. It was never what Christ intended when He hung from the cross.

My insecurity fuels my anger. I am deemed unworthy to teach a class or lead a discussion. My great sin? I wasn't raised in church. I read my Bible and pray many times a day. I study alone and with others. I seek knowledge and God's will in all things. I am humbled by all I do not know.

I have at times felt like the child who gets shoved aside so that the adults can have their say. One woman, a long-time Sunday school teacher, is quick to offer correction and guidance on anyone else's comments. She patted herself on the back one Sunday. She'd finally read the Bible from cover to cover. She had passed her 70th birthday. I am amazed and appalled yet she didn't see the hypocrisy in teaching a book she'd never read. She felt justified in seeing herself as above others because she'd spent almost every Sunday morning of her life in church.

I can't go back. I will never be the adult who grew up attending church. I didn't learn all the little songs with hand movements and I didn't memorize all those verses. But I am an adult who loves the Lord with all her heart. I fully understand what He has done for me and what He continues to do for me. I will never be worthy. Ever. I know that. But I also know He sees my heart, He knows where I've been and where I'm trying to go. He has reached out His hands, grabbed my own and pulled me into His embrace. I am loved. He judges me as worthy and that's all I will ever need.