There is an old song that teaches to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. At a certain point in my life, I had become so adept that that skill that I only saw my positive characteristics as reality. In a parable, Jesus talked about a Pharisee that did the same thing. He said, “I follow rules…I pay tithes…I am a good person…I…I…I….” We may think the Pharisee was being ridiculous, but we do the same thing. We pick out everything that we are doing right, no matter what we are doing wrong, and believe that God should be satisfied with our good works and ignore our lapses of faith. We measure ourselves against others, of whom we are quick to see the faults and flaws. We figure, as long as we are not like these “bad people” and our good deeds outweigh the bad, then we are fine. God should be pleased with us and not hold our “little” day-to-day sins against (and that’s if we even recognize that we are sinning).
We need to be more like the publican in the story. This dude was a sinner and he knew it. He was not proud of it. He was humbled by the situation and he feared God. My dad always says, “Every time you purposely disobey God, you are saying to Him, ‘I don’t believe You are real.’” If we truly reverence God, we will acknowledge, rather than ignore sins. The publican knew that it was only by God’s grace and mercy that he was able to live. The Pharisee’s “prayer,” or rather listing of qualifications for a blessing, fell on deaf ears, but the publican’s prayer was heard. God sees and knows all. He does not need to be reminded of how good we think we are. He appreciates it when we live in reality, admit our shortcomings, and know that we are not perfect and that we need His love, His grace and His mercy. If you feel the need to accentuate the positive, tell someone in your life all of the things that you love about him or her, but don’t puff yourself up before God. Ms. EV
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