God's forgiveness
Jesus told a story one day of a man who was a tax collector and a Pharisees. In Luke 18:9-17 it says that these two went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed "God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people; swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get." verse 11-12. While the tax collector, one of the most hated of professions in Jesus' day said, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" Jesus declared that it was the tax collector not the Pharisees who walked away that day just.
One of the things that the Lord is showing me is that in pride is one of man's greatest sins and hindrances towards spiritual growth. That is because in order to come to God and ask for forgiveness and to see ourselves the way that God sees us we must be humble. God does not see any of us as just, righteous or pure in and of ourselves. Righteousness is a gift not something that we earned. So, the minute we start to think we've done God a favor by accepting him and acting all prideful like this Pharisees did then we are in dangerous waters. God expects for us to receive him in humility realizing that He didn't have to save us.
The other reason that pride is such a problem is that it keeps us from acknowledging our need. Pride hinders us asking God for forgiveness. You notice in this passage that the Pharisees never did ackowledge any wrongdoing. In fact, he pointed out the wrongdoing of a man standing near him instead. Pride will cause us to hold on to past hurts instead of letting them go. Because when we aren't willing to forgive we are in a sense saying that even though God forgave us we aren't willing to forgive others. Rather, God causes us to realize he has forgiven us far more than anyone has hurt us. And He expects us to follow Him example.
God takes it so serious in fact that it says this in Mark 11:25-26 "And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgression. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgiven you." Now, there is some debate whether or not verse 26 was added later or not since in some manuscripts it doesn't read that way. But, even if you take out verse 26, it is still a pretty serious word to us about how much God wants us to forgive. The point is, sometimes you just have to let go of that little thing called "pride" and forgive because Jesus has forgiven you already so much.
It isn't just a suggestion, it is a command.
One of the things that the Lord is showing me is that in pride is one of man's greatest sins and hindrances towards spiritual growth. That is because in order to come to God and ask for forgiveness and to see ourselves the way that God sees us we must be humble. God does not see any of us as just, righteous or pure in and of ourselves. Righteousness is a gift not something that we earned. So, the minute we start to think we've done God a favor by accepting him and acting all prideful like this Pharisees did then we are in dangerous waters. God expects for us to receive him in humility realizing that He didn't have to save us.
The other reason that pride is such a problem is that it keeps us from acknowledging our need. Pride hinders us asking God for forgiveness. You notice in this passage that the Pharisees never did ackowledge any wrongdoing. In fact, he pointed out the wrongdoing of a man standing near him instead. Pride will cause us to hold on to past hurts instead of letting them go. Because when we aren't willing to forgive we are in a sense saying that even though God forgave us we aren't willing to forgive others. Rather, God causes us to realize he has forgiven us far more than anyone has hurt us. And He expects us to follow Him example.
God takes it so serious in fact that it says this in Mark 11:25-26 "And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgression. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgiven you." Now, there is some debate whether or not verse 26 was added later or not since in some manuscripts it doesn't read that way. But, even if you take out verse 26, it is still a pretty serious word to us about how much God wants us to forgive. The point is, sometimes you just have to let go of that little thing called "pride" and forgive because Jesus has forgiven you already so much.
It isn't just a suggestion, it is a command.
