It's too easy to forget that our Christian faith requires us to be broken. Jesus spent his dinnertime with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors (Nicodemus the Pharisee came later in the evening, like at the post-dessert-coffee time, so that doesn't count). God consistently is seen as one who shames the proud, saves the weak, and makes the first last. Paul makes a point to talk about the metaphysical thorn in his side (I assume it's not literal, anyway... it could be!!) that perfects God's power in his thorn-induced weakness.
And yet I still find myself trying to pull up on me-good-ole bootstraps (definitely metaphysical) to get me in line with the spiritual Joneses, too concerned with myself to do anyone else any good. Ugh. Try keep doing that for a while and you'll most certainly find brokenness, but the bad thing is that you'll be so spun up on trying to do right that despair will be a closer friend than joy.
The only hope we have in reconciliation to God is through Jesus. Not trying to be spiritual giants, not trying to outperform our neighbors in humility. It's the object of our faith (Jesus!) that saves us, not the quality or quantity of our faith. That won't get you squat. It's just another form of legalism, really, because it's all about us, and not really about Him.
Luke 18.9-14. Read it!
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