In God’s Mercy
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘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.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee has turned worship into a contest. He thinks his right standing before God is amplified by the not-so-right standing of the tax collector.
It is God’s final court that will decide if we are guilty or acquitted. Justification is the term used for acquittal – the judge’s declaration that we are not guilty.
Justification by faith is our anticipation of that future declaration. We believe that because Christ has carried in Himself our sin and the full penalty for that sin that we can walk now in the certainty of that future Judgement Day declaration.
In this parable, the tax collector knew nothing in him merited God’s favour. There was only one thing he could do: throw himself before God pleading for mercy.
The tax collector’s action is a strong picture of how a true child of God acts. Those who on Judgement Day will hear “not guilty” and who know that (because of their present faith in Christ) are always trusting in God’s mercy.
A Christian recognises he or she has been pardoned. We’ve broken God’s laws again and again. God’s forgiveness comes as a pardon. Our right standing before God has been earned for us by Christ. Our sins have been forgiven because Christ died for us, in our place. His death was God’s legal penalty for those sins committed.
Never move away from God’s mercy. Never think you’ve outgrown it.
Rest in that mercy, secured for you by Christ’s perfect life and atoning death.
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