Self awareness leads to honour
Luke 18:13-14 “13 “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.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
God is silent. He doesn’t praise the Pharisee and He doesn’t condemn the tax-collector. We don’t know what God thinks. Left to our own judgment on who God is pleased with the most, we may side with the Scripture-believing, spiritual leader who desires to please God. He seems a nicer man. He hasn’t committed sin. He paints a nice picture of himself. A man of thankfulness.
Yet this tax-collector is the opposite. He cannot even get close to the altar. He cannot look to heaven. He has nothing to give thanks for. All he can say is ‘sorry’ and he really does need to do that!
But neither of them know.
They may think they know.
The Pharisee probably banks on it being him.
The tax-collector knows it’s definitely not him. (At the time of Jesus these people were viewed by the Jews as thieves and betraying their own people for fraudulently collecting taxes.)
The difference between these 2 men is actually self-awareness.
Self-awareness is needed in the Church from the pulpit to the pew.
We tend to believe what people say about us which may be outdated, a dose of flattery or of course the reverse, something cruel),
We may think we are a very loyal and committed friend, this is a high value to us. But without self-awareness we may misread certain events even if we have made a mistake towards that friend as not our fault and certainly not contrary to our identity as being very loyal to our friendships. We lack self-awareness.
Pleasing God involves self-awareness. But within that self-awareness in the presence of God there lies the miracle of provision.
Self-awareness can be lacking in the one place you would expect to find it the most.
The good are not that good.
The bad are not that bad.
Jesus ends the parable with the result.
One man will be honoured eventually.
Self-awareness leads the way.?
It’s not what you think. It never is.
Missions Paul 