AUG. 13, 2013
Looking
Down
Read: Luke 18:9-14
I say . . . to everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly. —Romans 12:3
After
I had minor eye surgery, the nurse told me, “Don’t look down for
the next 2
weeks. No cooking or cleaning.” The last part of those instructions
was a
little easier to take than the first part! The incisions needed to heal,
and
she didn’t want me to put any unnecessary pressure on them by looking
down.
C.
S. Lewis wrote about another kind of looking down that we may have a
problem
with: “In God you come up against something which is in every
respect
immeasurably superior to yourself. . . . As long as you are proud you
cannot
know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people:
and, of
course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something
that is above
you” (Mere Christianity).
Jesus
told a parable about a Pharisee who felt superior to others. In a prideful
prayer, he thanked God that he was not like other men (Luke 18:11). He looked
down on extortioners, the unjust, adulterers, and the tax collector who was
also
praying in the temple. By contrast, the tax collector knew he was a sinner
before
God and asked for His mercy (v.13).
Pride
can be an issue for all of us. May we not look down on others but instead
see
the God who is far above us all.
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. —Watts
Spiritual pride is the most arrogant of all kinds of pride.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
