The Prayer God Wants

Summary

I continue to be a Christian partly because Jesus is such a keen observer of the human heart. Even after more than 40 years of trying to follow Jesus, I continue to learn from Jesus insights into myself and others that I probably wouldn’t get anywhere else. He and the Bible offer a vast storehouse of wisdom, if we want to receive it.

For instance, in this parable Jesus deftly shows us that when we’re righteous—and we know we’re righteous—we skirt dangerously close to a grievous sin.

One of the good guys walks into the temple in Jerusalem to pray. Everyone knows he’s a good guy because he’s a Pharisee. For the most part, Jews in the first century admired Pharisees for their meticulous and methodical passion for righteousness. Pharisees, maybe more than anyone else in Jewish society, wanted to conform themselves to the will of God. They wanted to be God’s friends. In the rhythms and patterns of daily work, they bent their life toward God. This was their purpose and preoccupation.