Luke 18:9-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
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."
The exalted are confident in their own righteousness and their pride of the things they have done or are doing...They may think about themselves in comparison with others...Sometimes comparisons and competitiveness can get us into a prideful situation...
The humble man knows that there is this battle with sin, each and everyday...And there probably is a day when the humbled tax collector realized that he was a sinner and came face to face with his decisions and knew that he was possible not doing all the right things...And in this realization process, he realized that he did fall short of the LORD and His Ways...And he seems humble in this Parable by Jesus...
But in this irony and battle with sin, a Savior gives us Great Hope...Jesus says "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."...