Sun 24 Jun

Throughout history there have been many suggestions put forward as to how one is right in God’s eyes. There were those who said you needed a certain knowledge. Others suggested you commit to doing certain actions. The followers of the Way indicated that it was belief and confession of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector as a means of showing how one is right with God. “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” One man in the story looked to himself rather than God to determine how right he was. The other recognized he had no righteousness of his own and cried out to God for mercy. The amazing thig is, both men are in need of God’s mercy. It didn’t matter whether you were the Pharisee or the Tax Collector. You needed God’s mercy. We have nothing to offer God. Our works are nothing but filthy rags. Our standing in society does not give us a right standing before God. The mercy of God is a great leveller. We are all in need of God’s mercy. It does not matter whether we are on top of the social ladder or at the bottom, whether we are working or retired, whether we have a family or not. Each of us are in need of God’s mercy to be right with Him. We cannot turn up our noses and look down upon someone else thinking we are better because we each need the mercy of God. Give thanks to God for His mercy and our need of it.