“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:13-14

“Spread all you wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness, but plead your badness.”  – Jonathan Edwards

A certain pastor decided to visit two families from his church.  The husband of the first family said to his wife, “The minister is coming over soon.”  So they and their children scurried about the house picking up anything that might offend the pastor or tarnish their reputation.  Certain movies were hid in dressers, certain music in cupboards.  Magazines boasting a wealth of knowledge over pop culture were temporarily replaced with the Daily Bread. The wife spot cleaned the kitchen by stacking filth-crusted dishes underneath clean ones, children shoved the clutter of their bedrooms into the closet, and the husband stashed his liquor out-of-sight.  He was no drunk—it just helped him “relax” at night.  So the entire family spent the better part of an hour sweeping the proverbial dust under the rug.  While the husband spot-checked each room, wife rummaged through the attic to find that old religious plaque.  And perhaps the sacrificial aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and cookies in the oven would cover up the odorous tension that normally filled the house. The wife just finished laying her Bible open on the coffee table when the doorbell rang.  “Oh hello, Reverend.  Thank you so much for visiting.  We have just been enjoying this lovely CD that you gave us.”

While the pastor visited with the first family, a second family was hard at work in their own home.  “Our pastor is coming over tonight,” the husband said to his wife and children.  So with cautious deliberation they too searched through their home to prepare for the pastor’s visit.  Later when the pastor arrived, they invited him in.  As he entered the family’s home, he discovered that they spent no time in typical preparation for a guest.  Crumbs crackled under his feet as he stepped in.  An unwashed cup caught his attention on a window ledge.  And yet, as the pastor passed through the living room certain things were out of place.  The silhouette of television was traced in the dust on the corner table.  It had recently been moved.  The bookcase looked awkwardly sparse.  So did the desk. But the floor, the kitchen, the bathroom, had been virtually untouched.   They invited the pastor into the dining room where the table offered him no cookies, no coffee.  No newly lit candles covered the odor of the home.  Instead, before him was spread over the entire dining room table a banquet of vices, bad habits, and addictions.   Anyone, after only a glance, would have seen in the heaps of filth an incriminating picture of sin and despair. What had previously been strewn throughout the home was searched out, organized, and now lay before the pastor like courtroom evidence before a jury.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it convicted the family of money wasted on sinful pleasures, of an anxious marriage, of rebellious children, of deceit, and greed, worldliness, and wrathful anger, and lust.  Finally the second husband spoke up, “Pastor, our house is a mess and our family is a wreck.  Will you help us?”