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The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

    The way we view ourselves is important to our relationship with Christ. When we see ourselves as righteous and having it all together, we make ourselves unteachable and unyielding to His truths. We have expectations to be raised up and recognized, yet God sees our stone hearts and does the opposite. 

    A simple reminder today of how far you have come. Remember how Jesus rescued you from your sin and the ways of the world. He has redeemed your undeserving soul out of His great love for you. In no universe could we ever be worthy of that and it is wrong for us to think so. Praise the Lord that He has had mercy on you! Thank Him and He will exalt you to where He sees fit, not where you deserve. 

Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

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