February 10th Devotion

Mark 2:17 (NIV)
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Here we find a simple truth. Why would Jesus eat with sinners? It was sinners that he came to save, not to mention, it was sinners who would eat with him. It was the Pharisees that snuck around and hard dark secret plans to kill him. If any of them wanted to know the truth, they had to sneak to see and speak to him. They certainly could not openly embrace him like the sinners did. Why, that would have made them sinners. Oh my.

The Pharisee mentality is one that considers themselves better than everyone else. Since they are not really better, they have to hide their sins from everyone, including one another.

But, who is really better off?

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

I would rather be that sinner, that a Pharisee. Don’t even get me started. Have mercy on us all, Oh Lord.

Love, Pastor Don