There was once a table with an open Bible.

There was once a table with an open Bible.

A man and a woman sat across from one another. The same passage lay before them. The same ink marked the page.

The man searched for reassurance. He lingered over the words about love and quietly stepped around the ones about judgment. He was not truly seeking understanding. He was seeking justification.

The woman kept reading. She traced the context. She compared Scripture with Scripture. She did not rush to defend herself from what confronted her. She sought wisdom to understand, even if it corrected her.

One sought to justify themselves.
The other sought wisdom.

That difference is ancient.

Jesus told a parable:

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, 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.”