Scripture Reading: Luke 18:9-14 ESV
How should I pray? Jesus answers that question in Luke 18:9-14 by showing us that acceptable prayer begins not with confidence in our goodness, but with humble dependence upon God’s mercy. The tax collector went home justified because he confessed his sin and looked to God for mercy, while the Pharisee trusted in his own righteousness.
This is why a faithful daily devotion series must continually bring us back to Scripture rather than merely giving us better religious habits. Prayer is not a performance through which we prove ourselves to God. It is the approach of needy people to the God who gives grace.
Jesus makes that difference unmistakable through two men who entered the temple to pray.
The Pharisee and Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14
Luke tells us why Jesus gave this parable before either man speaks:
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”
Luke 18:9 ESV
The problem is not simply that the Pharisee is arrogant. He trusts in himself.
Pharisees were members of a Jewish religious movement known for serious attention to the law and religious practice. Tax collectors occupied a very different place in Jewish society. They collected revenue under Roman authority and were widely despised because of their association with Rome and the corruption often connected with tax collection.
Jesus deliberately places these two men beside one another.
One appears righteous.
The other knows he is a sinner.
Yet appearances are about to be overturned.
The Prayer of the Pharisee
The Pharisee thanks God, but the substance of his prayer is about himself:
“God, I thank you that I am not like other men…”
He mentions extortioners, unjust people, adulterers, and finally the tax collector standing nearby. Then he points to his fasting and tithing.
Some of these practices were good in themselves. Jesus is not condemning fasting, generosity, obedience, or disciplined devotion.
The problem is where the Pharisee has placed his confidence.
He looks at his religious life and concludes that it gives him a favorable standing before God. Then he strengthens that conclusion by comparing himself with people he considers worse.
Self-righteousness almost always needs comparison.
When we measure ourselves against other sinners, we can usually find someone whose failures make us feel righteous. But Scripture does not tell us to measure ourselves against other people. We stand before the holiness of God.
That changes everything.
The Prayer God Receives With Mercy
The tax collector does not offer God a list.
He does not defend himself.
He does not point toward someone worse.
Jesus says he stood “far off” and “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven.” Instead, he beat his breast and prayed:
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The Greek verb translated “be merciful,” hilaskomai, carries the idea of propitiation or atoning mercy. His prayer is more profound than a vague request for kindness. He knows that his sin places him entirely at the mercy of God.
He brings no righteousness of his own.
He asks God to provide what he cannot provide for himself.
That is the heart of his prayer.
If you are wondering how should I pray, Jesus is not giving us a formula of particular words that guarantees God’s response. He is revealing the posture of genuine faith. We come confessing our sin, abandoning confidence in ourselves, and depending upon God’s mercy.
That truth belongs at the center of our daily devotionals because biblical prayer begins with a right understanding of God and a truthful understanding of ourselves.
Why Did the Tax Collector Go Home Justified?
Then comes the astonishing conclusion:
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.”
To be justified is to be declared righteous before God.
The tax collector did not become acceptable because humility itself earned God’s favor. His repentance was not another work replacing the Pharisee’s religious works.
He was justified because he stopped pleading his own case.
This distinction matters.
We are not justified because we pray humbly enough, repent perfectly enough, or feel sufficiently sorrowful. Justification is God’s gracious declaration concerning the sinner who has no righteousness to offer and depends upon His mercy.
The Pharisee brought his record.
The tax collector brought his guilt.
Only one of them understood his true condition.
How This Prayer Points Us to Christ
The tax collector asks for atoning mercy, and the gospel reveals where that mercy is ultimately found.
Jesus Christ does what no sinner can do for himself. He bears the judgment due to His people and provides the righteousness they cannot produce. We are justified not through religious achievement but by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
This keeps the parable from becoming merely a lesson about being humble.
Its message reaches deeper.
Our greatest problem is not that we occasionally become proud. Our problem is that sinners cannot justify themselves before a holy God.
Our hope, therefore, is not becoming a more impressive version of the Pharisee.
Our hope is Christ.
This is also why someone wondering will God forgive me should look first to the sufficiency of Christ rather than the severity of past sin. The tax collector’s hope rested entirely outside himself.
How Should Christians Pray Today?
Come to God truthfully.
You do not need to make yourself look better before Him. He already knows every motive, failure, temptation, and sin. Confess what is true. Ask for mercy. Trust what God has provided in Christ.
And resist the temptation to make prayer another place for comparison. Even good spiritual disciplines can feed pride when we begin measuring our Bible reading, prayer life, church attendance, or theological knowledge against someone else’s.
The question is not whether we appear more faithful than another Christian. The question is whether our confidence rests in Christ.
That dependence becomes especially difficult when we pray faithfully and God’s answer does not come when we expect it. In those seasons, when prayers go unanswered becomes more than a question about God’s timing. It exposes whether we trust Him only when we can see what He is doing, or whether we will continue entrusting ourselves to His wisdom, goodness, and sovereign care.
Persistent prayer also requires boldness in prayer. This boldness is not presumption, nor is it an attempt to persuade a reluctant God to become gracious. It is the confidence to keep coming before Him because our access rests in His grace rather than the strength, frequency, or eloquence of our prayers. We return to Him because we trust the character of the God who hears us and faithfully cares for His people.
Bringing Humility Into Your Prayer Life
Before filling your prayer time with requests, consider what you believe gives you the right to approach God.
Is it that you have been faithful lately?
That you have avoided certain sins?
That you understand Scripture?
That you are doing better than someone else?
Or is your confidence entirely in Christ?
A prayer journal can serve this kind of biblical self-examination when it helps us slow down before Scripture, confess sin specifically, record our prayers, and respond to God’s Word rather than simply documenting our thoughts.
For those who benefit from greater structure, choosing the best prayer journal is less about finding the most elaborate format and more about finding one that consistently directs attention toward Scripture, prayer, confession, gratitude, and faithful application.
Journal Reflection
Consider these questions slowly before God:
- Where am I tempted to measure my spiritual life against other people?
- What religious habits am I tempted to treat as evidence of my own righteousness?
- Is there sin I need to confess without defending or minimizing it?
- What would it look like today to rest more completely in the mercy of God through Christ?
Write a prayer in response to Luke 18:13:
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Do not rush beyond those words.
Let them remind you where your hope is found.
A Prayer From Luke 18:9-14
Father, You are holy, and I have no righteousness of my own to place before You. Forgive me for the pride that compares, judges, and quietly trusts in religious performance. Expose the places where I depend upon myself.
Teach me to come before You as the tax collector came, without excuses and without self-defense. Thank You that the mercy sinners need is found in Jesus Christ. Keep my confidence in His righteousness rather than my own.
Give me grace to pray truthfully, repent sincerely, and walk humbly before You.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Final Reflection
Two men went to the temple to pray.
One carried an impressive religious record. The other carried nothing but his need for mercy.
Only one went home justified.
Jesus leaves us with a truth that overturns every instinct toward self-righteousness:
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
When you wonder, how should I pray, begin here.
Come with empty hands.
Come without comparison.
Come confessing your sin.
And come trusting the mercy God has provided in Christ.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jesus teaches in Luke 18:9-14 that we should approach God humbly, confessing our sin and depending upon His mercy rather than trusting our religious accomplishments.
The Pharisee trusted in his own righteousness and compared himself favorably with others. His religious practices became grounds for self-confidence rather than expressions of dependence upon God.
The tax collector abandoned self-righteousness and pleaded for God’s mercy. His justification demonstrates that sinners are accepted by God’s grace rather than through personal merit.
The tax collector acknowledges both his guilt and his complete dependence upon God for atoning mercy. He offers no defense and claims no righteousness of his own.
No. Humility is not another work by which sinners earn justification. Salvation rests upon God’s grace and the righteousness of Christ, received through faith.
