Know Yourself

Two men go to church to pray. One man is a church leader. Everyone respects him. The leader stands at the front before church starts. Everyone can watch him pray. The church leader thanks God for making him so good. The other man is homeless. He stands at the back of the church. His eyes fill with tears. He falls to his knees and whispers, “Lord, please show me mercy. I am a sinner!”

Read Luke 18:9–14 📖 . What do you think of the two men that Jesus talks about in these verses? What did Jesus think? What important lesson do these verses teach us?

We can praise ourselves all too easily. Some people love talking about all the wonderful things they do. But these things are not important in God’s eyes. Jesus tells us, “ ‘Whoever makes himself look more important than he is will find out [learn] how little he is worth. Whoever does not try to honor himself will be made important’ ” ( Luke 18:14 📖 , NLV). Jesus also tells us not to take the most important chair for ourselves at a meal. We should sit in the chair that no one thinks is important. Let the host of the meal invite you to sit in a more important seat, if he wants ( Luke 14:8–10 📖 ). Jesus’ teaching may not be what we expect. “Jesus can’t save you until you know you are a sinner.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, page 158, adapted.

When we know we are sinners, we can come to Jesus with hope. “If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done” ( 1 John 1:9 📖 , ICB).

The closer we come to Jesus, the more we understand “who we are. We must look to Jesus and know Him. Or we will be filled with pride and self.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, page 159, adapted. What does God think of people filled with pride? 1 Peter 5:5 📖 says, “God works against those [people] who have pride. He gives His loving-favor to those who do not try to honor themselves [their self]” (NLV).

When did you last accept God’s love and forgiveness? (We need God’s love and forgiveness every day.) We also should show God’s love and forgiveness to other people. Spend some time in prayer right now. Ask God to remove the pride from your heart. Do not honor yourself. Let God honor you at a time when He chooses.