Devotional: Self-Confidence and Scorn: Luke 18:9-14

“I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored” (Lk. 18:14, NASB).

Confidence in oneself can be either a good thing or a bad thing. It is important that a child have confidence in his/herself. Without it the child is less likely to succeed because without confidence in oneself it is likely that the child will not make the effort needed to achieve. When it comes to our success we must have confidence in ourselves. Victories in life, not failures, give us confidence in ourselves. If you want to keep a person down tell them repeatedly about their failures and defeats.

On the other hand, self-confidence that leads to scorn of others is a bad thing. You cannot make yourself bigger by making others smaller. You must see the truth about yourself. Jesus taught that we should get the log out of our own eyes so that we can see clearly the speck in our neighbor’s eye (Matt. 7:1-5). Do not judge others before you take a good assessment of your own self. Jesus told the parable of two men that prayed. The Pharisee thought that he was in right standing with God because he was not like the other man. The Pharisee had self-confidence because compared to the tax collector he was living a superior religious and moral life. He boasted to God about how he kept the law while the tax collector was a known dishonest man. Jesus said that regardless of how we do the right things we should not become overly self-confident. It keeps us from taking an honest inventory of our own life. It leads to judging ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. In so doing, we violate the second of the two greatest commandments that Jesus named: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39; See Lev. 19:18). We cannot justify ourselves before God by putting other people down so that we can elevate ourselves.

Prayer: Lord we humble ourselves before You because You alone are righteousness. Amen.