Last Sunday's Thought: on self-evaluation in the eyes of God

In today's epistle, Paul in Romans 12 invites us to undertake self-evaluation as an exercise. It’s not a sign of weakness, but of true strength, if after prayerful reflection with God we recognize that there are some things we are better at, and some things that we are really not much good at all. In so doing, we have to avoid the two traps of vanity and false humility. Healthy churches, it has been said, are filled with healthy Christians who have a healthy sense of their own limitations. In chapter 18 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (tax-collector) tells us how to arrive at a true self-evaluation. The Pharisee prays incorrectly in the eyes of God because he pronounces: ‘Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican’, whereas the Publican prays in true humility, saying ‘Lord have mercy on me, a sinner’. This has come to be known as the Jesus prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ It is our starting point in any honest evaluation of ourselves.