Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

August 13
Tuesday


LOOKING
DOWN

READ:
Luke 18:9-14
___________________________________________________________________________________

I say...to everyone
who is among you,
not to think of himself
more highly than he
ought to think, but to
think soberly.
__Romans 12:3
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After I had minor eye surgery, the nurse told me, "Don't look down for the next 2 weeks. No cooking or cleaning." The last part of those instructions was a little easier to take than the first part! The incisions needed to heal, and she didn't want me to put any unnecessary pressure on them by looking down.

C. S. Lewis wrote about another kind of looking down that we may have a problem with: "In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself....as long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you" (Mere Christianity).

Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee who felt superior to others. In a prideful prayer, he thanked God that he was not like other men (Luke 18:11). He looked down on extortioners, the unjust, adulterers, and the tax collector knew he was a sinner before God and asked for His mercy (v.13).

Pride can be an issue for all of us. May we not look down on others but instead see the God who is far above us all.
__Anne Cetas

`````````````````````When I survey the wondrous cross````````````````````
````````````````````On which the Prince of Glory died,````````````````````
``````````````````````My richest gain I count but loss,`````````````````````
````````````````And pour contempt on all my pride. __Watts````````````````
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Spiritual pride is the most arrogant
of all kinds of pride.

******************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 18:9-14*********************

9 Also He spoke this
parable to some who trusted
in themselves that they
were righteous, and
despised others: 10 "Two
men went up to the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and
the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself,
'God, I thank You that I am
not like other men__
extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this
tax collector. 12 I fast twice
a week; I give tithes of all
that I possess.'

13 "And the tax collector,
standing afar off, would not
so much as raise his eyes to
heaven, but beat his breast,
saying, 'God, be merciful to
me a sinner!'

14 "I tell you, this man
went down to his house
justified rather than the
other; for everyone who
exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who
humbles himself will be
exalted."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jesus' parable introduces a startling contradiction to the assumptions
of the Jewish audience who first heard these words. during this
time, Israel was occupied by the Romans. Some Israelites even
collaborated with the Romans and exacted inflated taxes from
their own people in order to line their pockets. Because of this,
the "publicans," as these collaborators were called, were hated.
By contrast, the Pharisees were a religious elite group who held
themselves spiritually above the average Jewish person by their
precise keeping of meticulous laws. Chris't description of these two
kinds of people is not unusual. What is shocking is that the publican
is justified for his acknowledgment of sin while the Pharisee is
condemned for his spiritual pride.