Humility Before God: Move the Ball!

“for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” ~Luke 18:14b

With the Super Bowl approaching, a lot of people are excited to see their favorite team play. If you’ve watched football, you know how intense it can get when your team can’t move the ball, stalling out in the third down. On the other hand, you’ll never hear a louder sound, other than possibly a super-sonic jet, when a touchdown is made, and the crowd goes wild. But to get a touchdown, the team has to move the ball!

Humility Before God

Jesus's parable calls us to humility before God, admitting our need for mercy.

In Jesus's parable from Luke 18, there are two men who are praying in the temple. They are paradoxical opposites—one is a Pharisee who should be righteous except he is anything but. The other is a tax collector who is externally viewed as a sinner, and he actually admits to it. In his admission and plea to God for mercy, the tax collector has proven himself righteous. If we are honest with ourselves, the Pharisee and the tax collector are not separate figures, they are warring aspects within our heart. This internal dialogue—between our carefully constructed religious performance and our devastating awareness of inner bankruptcy—plays out in the arena of prayer.

Recently, I felt convicted while praying. I said, “Lord, forgive me, I am better than this.” Immediately, God revealed to me my pride. Without realizing it, I had asked for forgiveness yet expressed arrogance in the same breath. I am not better or above doing anything; Jesus Christ is the perfect man, who takes away my sins, and enables me to live a Holy life. I cannot make spiritually sound decisions on my own. If I do not first admit my vulnerability toward sin, I will be devoured by it. Our spiritual journey often oscillates between these poles of pride and desperation. In the morning, we may stand tall in our religious accomplishments, our digital devotions meticulously tracked and shared. By evening, we confront the shadows we thought we'd banished, meeting ourselves in raw authenticity before God.

Where Genuine Transformation Begins

Like in football, all of us desire to make touchdowns in all aspects of our life. In order to get there, we have to first admit there will always be opposition (spiritual warfare or unforeseen life events), and then confront it, rely on our team here on earth and in Heaven, and keep moving a yard at a time.

In the collision between our pretense and our brokenness, genuine transformation begins. When our inner Pharisee meets our inner tax collector, true humility can finally take root. In the end, justification comes not to the part of us that has it all together, but to the part that knows, in our humanity, it never will—and dares to ask for mercy anyway.

Always improve the present moment.