Scripture
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:13-14

Observation
My dad was a university professor with tons of experience watching students. He told me before my first college class, “Don’t sit in the back row where the students talk. Sit at the front so you can listen.” He was right. Front rows have been a life habit of mine. But Jesus tells me something different today. There are times it pleases God to sit in the back.

The tax collector “stood at a distance” and was closest to God. He, and not the preacher on the front row, was the example to follow.

Application
I wonder how often I walk into church with a sense that I belong there. I grew up in the church. My dad was a pastor. I’m a pastor. It’s all very familiar, maybe too familiar. What would happen if I stopped at the back and pondered my inadequacy.

In the Parliaments of the British Commonwealth there is at the entry doors a bar placed across the open doorway. In the Queensland State Parliament, where I lived in Brisbane, there is a golden bar across the doorway. Visitors are called “strangers” and if a non-member of parliament is invited to speak he maybe asked to stand behind the bar and address parliament at a distance.

Maybe we need to put a bar across the doorway, not of church, but across the threshold of every life entry. When we walk into the office, or the boardroom, or the classroom, or the restaurant or even our own homes, it would be good if we paused and reflected on our unworthiness and Christ’s full sufficiency. Everything is better than we deserve. That is the nature of mercy. That hesitation to pause to acknowledge our sinfulness and need of a Saviour could make all of the difference.

Prayer
Father, the only ticket of entrance I have into heaven or your presence is my confession that I am a sinful person. Have mercy on me. And let me seek that mercy at every entry point of life, for I am unworthy of it all. Everything is better than I deserve. Amen.