The Parable of the Pharisee

Luke 18:9-14 And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on 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 every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

I love this parable! For many reasons. One, it shows true righteousness which comes only through Jesus Christ. So many people think that they can get to Heaven on their good works, that if they don't commit any serious sins (ie murder, rape etc) then that will be their ticket into Heaven. But the Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags. There is no amount of good works that can get us into Heaven. For we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is not one of us on this earth that is deserving of Heaven, but praise be to God that He sent His only son Jesus to take our punishment and give us His righteousness that we may live in Heaven with Him because of His righteousness.

Second, I love this parable because it shows how we should be as Christians throughout our whole life. We should never get to a place where we think we are high and mighty. Where we think we are better than others, or that we have obtained a certain level of God's favor and are thus more important to Him than other people are. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. We should always walk in humility, understanding that we are but nothing and Christ is everything. We are merely sinners saved by incredible grace. 10 years I've been saved, and I'm still a sinner to this day. I'm still a horrible person who has such bad things inside of me that cause me to cry out to God like the publican in this parable. The only thing great in me is Christ. I am nothing, and I always want to be nothing, so that Christ will continue to be everything in me, that He may get the glory for every good work in me.

Need to cut this short as it's bedtime for the kids. Will maybe come edit this later and add more thoughts:)