making the right comparison

Mrs. Oakley said something in our Community Group during high school that has been a theme throughout my years since then:

When comparison begins, contentment ends.

Especially for girls comparison either breeds pride or self-contempt, but for whatever reason we persist in comparing and ranking ourselves among others in our minds (or at least I do). So today Jesus' words were particularly poignant. In Luke 18:9-14, "He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt." (v.9)

The parable portrays a Pharisee boasting before the Lord that he is not like other sinners and a tax collector begging for mercy in recognition of his sinfulness. Jesus then explains that the one who humbled himself was the one who was justified before God. Clearly the heart of the tax collector was poised for relationship with God, while the heart of the Pharisee delighted in a false sense of self-sufficiency.

I believe each of these men made comparisons that led their hearts to these positions.

The Pharisee looked around at the others who were approaching God and saw that he was living in greater moral purity than these. Compared to everyone around him, he seemed to be doing very well. Compared to everyone around him, he had every reason for pride. I do this so often. It is so easy to find people to watch who make me think I am doing well before the Lord, but it is just as easy to compare myself to people whose lives highlight my flaws. Neither mindset is what I want. Neither mindset allows room for the Lord to work in my heart.

The tax collector made a different comparison. The only worthwhile comparison. And it brought him to repentance and justification and true righteousness. The tax collector compared himself to the holiness of God. He knew what he would find if he were to look up and gaze upon the perfections of the Most High; it was for this reason that he stood far off and "would not even lift up his eyes to heaven." (v. 13) He knew what he would see: the throne of God, the righteous judge, who has commanded that His people be holy even as He is holy. One glimpse of God and the tax collector knew he could never earn the right to approach such beauty and holiness.

But that glimpse afforded him the courage to humble himself and ask for mercy. In comparing himself to the Lord of heaven, he saw the glorious love that leads man to repentance. He recognized that on his own he had no grounds for approaching the King, that his own righteousness was as a filthy rag, a presentation he could never offer to the spotless Lamb. But he also saw the robe. The robe of righteousness that is merited by the Holy One alone was extended to this tax collector.

And worship began.