Honest Self-examination - The Pharisee And The Tax Collector

“The tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner . . . returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Luke 18:13-14

Jim Fixx, author of the 1978 best seller The Complete Book of Running and a man who himself ran eighty miles a week, seemed a marvel of physical conditioning.

He died of a heart attack at age fifty-two while running alone on a Vermont road. Fixx’s wife, Alice, later said that Jim had no idea that he had a heart problem because he refused to get regular checkups.

Just as you need regular physical checkups to accurately assess your physical condition, you need regular “spiritual checkups” to assess your relationship with God.

Jesus once told a story of two men who visited the Jerusalem Temple, one a self-righteous Pharisee who had no idea of his desperate spiritual sickness, and the other a common sinner who, after some painful soul-searching, found himself in desperate need of mercy and forgiveness.

“Common sinner” might not be the best description of the latter man, however. Jesus called him a tax collector, an agent of the Roman government, and a scoundrel well-known for ripping off his own people. As this man entered the Temple, his thoughts turned to the awful things he had done, the people he had defrauded, and the hatred and scorn he had earned from his despicable behavior.

He could only say, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.”

True confession before God means being honest enough to admit who you are and being humble enough to realize that you can never earn God’s forgiveness. Such honesty allows you to speak the truth that God requires of you and gives you the humility of a contrite heart.