Becoming the Man God's Future Requires

Good morning, sir! Welcome to day fourteen! We've already passed the halfway mark! I pray the Lord is touching your spirit as we share these moments together.

Join me in prayer:  Lord, this is my new day! Open the eyes of my heart to understand Your purposes for me today. Draw my spirit into deeper union with Yours, that I might be filled with You! In Jesus' name, amen!

Looking down on others with contempt comes so naturally to our fallen nature. That's precisely why Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14).

Years ago, God indelibly impressed this truth upon my heart. I've never forgotten that moment! I was attending a monthlong Christian ministry training school, and my heart was full of pride! During worship, I watched other students raising their hands and singing. But inside, I was thinking, "That guy's a hypocrite! That gal is so rude! She can't possibly have pure motives!" I considered myself spiritually superior to them all! Phariseeism had a powerful grip on my heart!

But God, in His mercy, was about to touch the very place that needed healing.

While reading a tract from that very school, my eyes fell upon these words attributed to the great revivalist Charles Finney:

"'Love is not easily provoked.' To be easily provoked is always a sign of pride. ... 'Love thinks no evil'—show me a man who is always suspicious of others' motives and I will show you one who has the devil in him and not the Holy Ghost."

Ouch! That was me! I was the one, beating my chest, who desperately needed mercy! What a revelation! The very people I was judging weren't the problem. My own proud heart was!

Lord, thank You for Your merciful touch! You invite us into relationship and lovingly correct what keeps us from You. Keep my heart tender and responsive to Your voice! Amen!