PaulStiver.com

We hear the phrase, "Trust yourself" all the time in our culture today. The gospel challenges that notion because we find that trusting ourselves is what has led us astray. The challenge of the gospel message is that it tests us to our core. The gospel asks us where we put our trust, every day. In this parable from Luke 18, Jesus is pointing out what it looks like to trust in one's self: He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 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, t...

Photo by  Jamie Street  on  Unsplash In my lifetime the Green Bay Packers have won two Super Bowls. If you're reading this and you're a Vikings fan, please don't stop reading, although I'd understand if you did. I remember the first one even though it happened when I was a young kid. The game was played in New Orleans against the Patriots who were led by Drew Bledsoe at the time. The Packers started off hot, but then New England got back into the game until Desmond Howard iced the game with a record setting kickoff return touchdown. Victory. I watched this game in the basement of my parent's old house on Tenth Street in Merrill, WI. The gang that watched this game was a bunch of die hard Packers fans, my dad and a couple of his friends, my uncle and cousins. I'll be honest, winning the Super Bowl is pretty fun, you guys. We had a blast. It's so fun watching the players you love execute and succeed, and doing it in a group of people you love makes it ...