Tax Collecting and Such.

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. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—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.’“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-13

I'm usually good at talking like the tax collector but my heart is often more similar to that Pharisee. I can be so critical, forgetting the grace extended towards me. Lately, God has been exposing fears and insecurities and sin from deep within me that I've been masking. It is raw and painful but it's sweet. He draws near to the broken and the Lord is making my heart more like that tax collector's.