Day 19: Gotcha (P.S. I was extremely tired when I recorded this.)

Today’s Big Idea: Consider what needs to change

Key Verse: Luke 18:13

Passage of the Day: Luke 18:9-14

Thoughts to consider: Today, we look at the role we have played in creating the culture we want to change. The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector is a tricky passage. Every time we read it, it feels like one of those “Gotcha!” moments. We want to sit in quiet judgment of the Pharisee, but the moment we do that, we start thinking, “I’m glad I’m not like that Pharisee” and we prove how much of a Pharisee we really are. 

So let’s pay attention to the tax collector instead. As much as everyone hates paying taxes, the Roman system of taxation and collection was so much worse than we can imagine. Like Zacchaeus from Day 11, this man’s job consisted of cheating people, selling out his own countrymen, and enriching himself to support an oppressive regime. But something had happened to him. He had come to an awareness of his sin and arrived at the temple to repent. He knew he needed to change, and his repentance was accepted by God. 

What do we need to change? Have we been willing participants in creating an unhealthy culture in our congregation? We need to be careful here because if we think we haven’t, we might find ourselves to be more like the Pharisee than we’d like to admit.