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What i’m not.
I mess up, we all mess up, and I know when I do I often find myself saying, well at least I didn’t do ________ or I’m glad I can still say I’m not a _________, and saying these things, focusing on what I’m not, makes me feel better, it allows me to wipe the sweat off me forehead and say, “Phew!” However doing this makes me lose sight of what just happened, I just sinned and convinced myself that it was no big deal. I had just become selfish enough put myself before my King and shrugged it off. I became like the Pharisee from Luke 18. The Pharisee who builds himself up by saying what he’s not, and neglects to mention what he is, and what he is, is what we all are, sinners. I feel like sometimes we forget that sin is sin and no matter if it’s lying, murdering, or hating, it carries the penalty of death, (Romans 6:23) like the Pharisee we fail to be honest with ourselves and God, we fail acknowledge our sin, and by doing so rob ourselves of the chance to experience God’s grace and fail to realize how much we need it, and this can very quickly lead to complacency. And one thing I have learned for sure is that if we feel that we are at the top of our scale, we need a bigger scale. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with thanking God for not struggling with specific sins, but I don’t think that is exactly what is going here. It seems to me that the Pharisee is raising himself up at the expense of his neighbors. He’s speaking the words “thank you” but he is really saying, “Look at me I’m better than this guy, I’ve got this whole life thing figured out.”
Chris thanks for the honest evaluation of the scripture. :> Hey don’t worry about not knowing what you want to be when you “grow up” most of us “grown ups” have no idea either. My advise is just do something try alot of things then you’ll find something to love. Sin and being honest about sin is hard in a relationship. It is easy to applogligise and ask forgivness of a person you don’t see that often. However asking the people who know you and are around you to forgive you is harder. They will see if you ment your repentance or not. That is what I love about Grace. It is given even when I don’t deservie it.A large part of the Pharasee’s problem was he was looking around and not humbling himself before God. He needed to look up.
God cannot be pleased with us when we are praying to him while watching everybody else around us. It’s not about how we compare to our peers and it’s not about a competition for who prays better, worships better or looks better. We should be on our knees thanking God for Jesus saving us and for the daily grace and mercy offered to us. We need to strive to be like Jesus, not some other person.