Spiritual Intelligence

Genesis 44-46; Luke 18

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ‘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.”…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.”’”

Luke 18:9-11, 13

The depth of our awareness of our need for Christ’s salvation, mercy, and sacrifice on our behalf, shapes how we pray or even whether we pray. Trusting in our own righteousness through church attendance, tithing, devotions, and regular prayer, will be reflected in how we pray. One of the first evidences of full surrender to the Spirit of God in our lives is a new awareness of how our sin grieves God. We grieve for sin because God is grieved. We are grateful for forgiveness to the degree that we are aware we need it. The term “emotional intelligence” is used to describe our awareness of how others perceive us. What Jesus is describing is “spiritual intelligence”.

How aware are we of our desperate need for God’s mercy and forgiveness?

“Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.”