Why is humility so critical to being a good Christian? It is because no matter how strong we think we are, spiritually speaking, there is weakness in us all. The flesh is weak. How do I know this?
Matthew 26:41 (ESV)
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
If Jesus says that the flesh is weak, then the flesh is weak. Our best option is to accept this reality and do what we can to overcome it. Arrogance will just put us in more jeopardy. Humility will put us in a position to get help. No passage emphasizes this more than our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:914). A parable, by the way, that Jesus gave to those who were trusting in themselves.
Luke 18:11 (ESV)
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men…
What this Pharisee meant was that he was glad he was not a sinner like others. He was wrong. The truth is, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Because he arrogantly trusted in himself, he never found it necessary to find someone who could help him with his sins. It never dawned on him that he needed God’s grace to be saved. The tax collector in the parable was the antithesis of him.
Luke 18:13 (ESV)
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
This man knew his flesh was weak and that he had given in to sin from time to time. He knew he deserved damnation and that his only hope was mercy.
Luke 18:13 (ESV)
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
These are the words of one who knows his flesh is weak, but also that God is gracious and merciful. The “flesh,” by the way, is not the skin that covers our bones, but the inward man that has been corrupted by sin. When it comes to salvation, we all have two choices—we can trust in the flesh or rely on the grace of a loving God. Notice how it turned out for the two men of our Lord’s parable.
Luke 18:14 (ESV)
14 I tell you, this man (the tax collector, emp. mine) went down to his house justified, rather than the other (the Pharisee, emp. mine). For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Are you one that exalts yourself, or one that realizes that your flesh is weak and humbles yourself enough to ask for the mercy of God? Let’s be wise enough to follow the example of the tax collector and avoid the arrogance of the Pharisee. Only those who understand the weakness of the flesh will overcome it by the grace and mercy of God.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.