Just for Sinners: One Year Bible Reading for April 16

 Today we read these verses in the One Year Bible:

Joshua 13:1-14:15
Luke 18:1-17
Psalm 85:1-13
Proverbs 13:7-8

Let's look at Luke. We see two people in the Temple praying. One looks down his nose at the sinners nearby and thanks God that "he's not like those sinners." The other one can't even lift his eyes to heaven because he's all too aware of his sins, and instead he beats his breast and says, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Jesus makes it VERY CLEAR which one of these men went home freed from their sin.

That's why the church teaches that one of the best prayers we can pray, called the Jesus prayer, goes like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." You can pray that over and over meditatively and feel the layers of sin and filth that the world has piled on you getting stripped away.

Try it!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.