The Humble Petitioner: Luke 18:11-14

Prayer to our spiritual life is like water to our physical body. With the right attitude, prayer can keep your spirit refreshed as water quenches your physical thirst. Prayer is exceptionally important in our relationship with the Lord. All over the internet we are bombarded with countless teachings on how to pray. Yet, our best teacher on this subject is Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus shares effective principles relating to prayer.


In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus spoke about two men that entered the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee prayed: "God I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn't even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me a sinner." Then Jesus said, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 18:11-14).

If we are not careful, we will find ourselves measuring up our deeds and self-righteousness with others even in our intimate time of prayer. But we do not need to measure ourselves with others as a way of impressing the Lord. He knows everything about us and magnifying our good works will not make our prayers more effective. Based on Jesus's conclusion that the tax collector was viewed as more righteous than the Pharisee, we can draw the conclusion that humility and sincerity are virtues that can make our prayer and person accepted by God. An insincere or prideful prayer is like you never prayed. For example, when you pray and ask for forgiveness, do you just say “Lord forgive me for my sins”, or do you state the precise sin for which you are seeking forgiveness?

Sometimes I am ashamed of wrongs I did, so I'll say, "Lord forgive me for what I did yesterday." The Lord desires that his children take responsibility and seek forgiveness and mercy in humility and sincerity. The Pharisee prayed that he fasted twice a week and paid his tithes. But mercy is dependent on humble acknowledgement of our sinful ways. We should not omit the act we did. God knows what we did. If you have lied to another, do not water it down in the prayer like the Pharisee: Lord forgive me, and thank you that I do not use bear falsehood against another as often as others do. Let's not enhance other people's sin to make ours appears small.

Sometimes we fall prey to the idea of "saving face." So, to make our wrongs seem minor, we make attempts to magnify the wrongs of others. The Pharisee wasn't sorry for his sins; he was happy he did not sin as often as others. Let's learn the lesson of the tax collector and pray from a sincere heart and in humility. Those prayers will be heard.

 

R.G.  29/10/25

Image: pixabay.com

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