Lord Jesus Christ would often tell stories to teach people about God and how to do spiritual practice to get close to God. One day Jesus told the following story:

    Two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. A Pharisee is a person belonging to an ancient Jewish sect. In that sect, people followed all the religious rituals strictly. The other man was a tax collector. Tax collectors worked for the Roman Government; many of them were corrupt, arrogant and merciless.

    The Pharisee stood and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people. They are wicked, cheating; thieves, exploiters, or even like that tax collector over there. I fast twice a week, I give 10% of my wealth to charity.”

    The tax collector was standing back. He would not even look up to the temple, but stood with his head bowed in shame. He prayed, crying, “God, please forgive me. I am a sinner; I have to collect money even from poor people.”

    Then Jesus asked, “Whose prayer was heard by God – the Pharisee’s or the tax collector’s?”

    Dear Children, can you answer this question? Whose prayer was heard by God? Why?

    Jesus Christ explained that God heard the prayers of the tax collector and not the Pharisee’s. This is because in front of God, we have to be humble, not proud. The tax collector was humble, whereas the Pharisee was proud. If we call on God with our heart, really wanting His help, then He helps us lovingly. However, if we already think that we are good enough and don’t need God’s help, He does not help us.