Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) reveals that prayer matters to God. “The prayers of all saints” are ever “before the throne” (8:3-4). As we considered yesterday from Luke 18:9-14, telling God how great we are is decidedly not prayer (verses 9-12, 14). Real prayer is both communication with and dependence on God. This truth is clarified in the person of the parabolic publican: “The publican [tax collector], standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’” (verse 13). Jesus then draws a specific conclusion: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (verse 14). A key element of prayer, then, is humility. Logically, the very act of prayer is a sincere admission that without Jesus we “can do nothing” (John 15:5). Rather than the hubric harangue of the self-satisfied and self-justified self-righteous, the simple statement of the sinner is our model. Such heartfelt and humble dependence is appropriate before our God, Who does all things well. We can be certain that one way we will “be exalted” is through His careful attention to our prayers.