Friday, March 3, 2006
Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men -- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
1 Timothy 2:8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting . . .
DIRTY HANDS
As a child I was taught to pray with my hands folded and my head bowed. But some pray with their hands held up. Perhaps this "open-palmed" prayer stance is meant to remind us that we have nothing to offer God, but He has much to give us.
Paul desires prayer done with "holy" hands. Of course, our sin dirtied hands can only be cleansed in the blood of Jesus. But as long as we clutch our grubby sins through un-repentance our hands will remain dirtied by sin's black residue.
The Pharisee in Jesus' parable was doing just this and didn't even know it. He stood up proudly claiming that his hands were clean before God. Though they were filthy with sin. Sadly, his hands remained dirty when he left God's temple.
The tax collector also held up dirty hands before God. But he knew his hands were dirty. There is no self-righteous pride in his prayer, only an admission of guilt and an asking for mercy.
Jesus says this man went home with clean hands. For when the Christian lifts up his sin dirtied hands in repentance, he finds that God has washed them clean.
