“Do Not Be Confident Of Your Own Righteousness!”

“Do Not Be Confident Of Your Own Righteousness!”(Lk.18:9-14).
We are kind of taken aback from the backlashes on those who challenge the coup in Niger. How can the pots say the kettle is black? The world we long to transform is represented at our backyards.
If truth must be told, the number of criminals freely roaming the streets are hundreds of thousands times more than those who are incarcerated in prisons for misdemeanors. Worst still, those in prisons are brought to justice by criminals and judged and convicted by criminals. In justice systems the world over, criminals courageously and confidently cast the first stone without compunction.
We do not have to stand before God recounting our self-righteousness calling it prayer!
Is this Pharisaic prayer actually a prayer or boasting in self-righteousness? “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
Prayer is not about comparing yourself with other people and proving your superiority over others.
The tax collector whom the Pharisee was comparing himself with, on his part “…would not even look up to heaven, but beat his chest and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
To anyone who is righteous in his own eyes, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “…go and learn what this means; ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”(Mt.9:13).
When prophet Nathan confronted king David for killing Uriah and taking his wife Bathsheba, David was humble enough to say, “I have sinned against the LORD.” The prophet told him, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die”(II Sam.12:1-14).
God knows our immutable imperfections. He has settled for mercy as our only way to redemption because “every inclination of man’s heart is evil from childhood”(Gen.8:21).
Dear friend, God knows that you are a good person. He knows the good that you do, but you are an imperfect being. Your weaknesses outweigh your good. His grace and mercy alone is sufficient for you and I.
When you pray for God’s mercy, you are made righteous before him. A righteousness that is by faith and not by works. It is sinners that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save, not the righteous. If you are a Christian, then you are unrighteous and should always pray, “LORD have mercy on me.” Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.