READING:
One-year plan: 1 Samuel 13-14, Luke 18:1-30
Two-year plan: Numbers 3:40-4:28, Mark 6:1-13
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Jesus had much to say about self-righteousness in a simple parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector. In the story, the two men went to the temple to pray. There, the Pharisee self-righteously affirmed his good acts, and the tax collector recognized his unworthiness. It was, Jesus said, the tax collector who went home justified before God that night. Self-righteousness is only deceptive and destructive.
What catches my attention in this reading, though, is the way Jesus invited us to see the hearts of the two men: by letting us hear how they prayed. You see, the prayers we pray when no one is listening reveal our heart. With that truth in mind, did your prayers over the last week show a burden for non-believers by name? a love for your pastors? A brokenness over unreached people groups? Agony over your sin?
Were your prayers over the last week more about you or about God? What do your prayers say about your heart?
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How might you seek a changed heart and changed prayers this week?
PRAYER: “God, change my heart.”
MONDAY’S READINGS:
One-year plan: 1 Samuel 15-16, Luke 18:31-19:10
Two-year plan: Numbers 4:29-5:10, Mark 6:14-29