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The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
We know this story, but it can still be easy to slip into praying proudly. When we pray, we shouldn't brag about good things we do, or criticize other people for the bad things they do.
v13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
The point of this verse is forgiveness. If anybody sins against us, (actually, whether they repent or not), we should forgive them. It doesn't say "If they don't repent, don't forgive them."
Colossians 3:13Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.
We should be willing to forgive again and again.
Matthew 18:21 & 22Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
But part of Luke 17:3 did say, ...If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him...
Don't get me wrong, we shouldn't have a lifestyle of rebuking people. We shouldn't rebuke people all the time, or every time we think they do something wrong. But there is a place for rebuke.
For example, if you purchase a product from a business, and the product turns out to have a problem with it, it's not only acceptable practice for you to tell the business about it (as long as you do it in the right manner,) but a good business would want you to tell them. And when you're taking care of children, and trying to help them do what's right, it can be good and important to talk to them about problems with their behavior (again, if you do it the right way).
Just as it's not always necessarily right to criticize somebody for something, it's not always necessarily wrong either.
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
This makes me think of families and jobs.
When Jacob's son Joseph was tempted by his master Potipher's wife, he was faithful with her. Eventually, he was given his own wife. Also, if we're going to take care of our own children faithfully, we must be faithful when we babysit others, like when we babysit our younger siblings.
Finally, if we want to have our own business, we should work faithfully for when we have an employer.
And he answering said to [his] father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
It seemed unfair, like the father should have punished the son who had done wrong instead of rewarding him. We shouldn't get angry when we see other people get undeserved forgiveness. We should forgive other people the same way the Lord has forgiven us.
The one way that I'll mention, which some people don't believe in, but I think is really important, is answers.
Our old meeting place called them promises,
and Bill Gothard's Institute calls them rhemas.
Basically, answers are specific parts of the Bible that apply directly to, or answer current situations in our lives.
The Lord who's in control of everything, arranges the circumstances to bring us to these parts of the Bible at the right time. He's a real person who's still alive, and actively interested and working in our lives, and His Word is a living Word
that He can use to speak to us when we seek Him.
Like I said earlier, some people don't believe in these answers from the Lord. Sometimes we get confused because we thought we had the Lord speak to us this way, and then it turned out to be wrong, or didn't work out.
So, one time I wanted to whether the Lord really does speak to people like that, so I prayed and asked Him that. Then I read this verse in the Bible, and I got a double answer:
Jeremiah 33:3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
First, it shows that when we call on the Lord, He does answer us and show us things. Second, it's an example of just that, because I called on Him for this, and this was His answer to me. The Lord's Word, directly answering us when we call on Him, is definitely a very real thing.
It's still hard for me to understand when I thought the Lord spoke directly to me, and then it didn't work out the way I thought. Was it not the Lord in the first place? Did I misunderstand Him? How can I know whether something is really an answer from the Lord or not?
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
Maybe what Jacob did in this case wasn't a very good thing to do; I'm not sure. But it really seemed to work out well for him because he listened to his mother. We should listen to our mothers. :-)
I'll work on paying attention to Mom.
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