Daily Reading for Personal Growth, 40 Days with God

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood up and said this prayer to himself: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes on all my income.’

¹³ “The tax collector, however, stood some distance away and would not even raise his eyes to heaven. Rather, he kept beating his breast as he said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴ This man, I tell you, returned to his home justified, whereas the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”