God Be Merciful

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Luke 18:13

Humility is essential to the Christian life.  If you want to go to heaven, you must repent of your sins and become sanctified, which takes humility.  To become sanctified, you must leave your way and resolve to follow Christ; this takes humility.  One must abandon their personal pride and strength, placing their full trust and confidence in Christ.  And leave it there.   

                When the Holy Ghost convicts and convinces you that you are a sinner it is both a blessing and an act of grace.  You have reached a point where you understand that you are wrong and need to change.  You have reached a wonderful realization, a realization that you are lost.  If we never knew that we were sinners we would go through our whole life thinking that we were “ok”, only to die and meet God, a condemned sinner bound for an eternity in hell.  What a tragedy!  Though we obtained all this world riches, it would be far better to obtain genuine Holy Ghost conviction and follow Christ.  Conviction from God is a precious gift, and it comes to every man.  Yet, mankind justifies themselves and reasons away from it.  Unwilling to admit that they are wrong.  It is in this light that we find the ugliness of pride revealed.  When you are so confident in your strength and the reasoning of your own mind that you are unwilling to listen to the counsel of God.  There are far more who will go to hell because of pride than ever did because of drinking, rioting, and such like.  There are many who sit in church, dressed in nice clothes, driving nice cars, and are whole heartily convinced that they are righteous; because of pride they are unwilling to look at the true state of their soul and “examine themselves to see if they are in the faith or not.”  Pride will blind the eyes to the path of God and blind the mind to the counsel of God; pride will condemn the soul as sure as any “substance” sin will.  The scripture says, “let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.”  That tells me, all you must do to be wicked is follow your way over God’s. 

When you decide to follow Jesus, admit you were wrong, repent and become sanctified.  It does not leave a bitter taste in your mouth.  It does not bring turmoil and bondage; far from it, it brings liberty.  It takes the pressure off you and allows you to live in fellowship with God and Christ.  Living in fellowship with Christ will develop in you every virtue that the man Jesus Christ embodied.  Perhaps not in one single prayer, it might take a lifetime, but as my minister once told me: “the joy is in the seeking.” However, this cannot begin unless one finds a place of humility and admits they are lost without God.  That they are a sinner in need of saving.