God I thank you that I am not like other people

The Tax Collector and the Pharisee

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Thankfulness

I understand that the parable is about the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisee, not his act of comparing himself to other people. However, I am extremely perplexed by people who have a similar attitude.

Oh hey, how was your trip?

Oh it was so good. I really just appreciate all I have now.

How so?

Well just seeing how people live over there, it just makes you so thankful for what you have.

What do you mean?

They just have so much less. We are just so blessed living here.

Is this attitude right or wrong? Should we be thankful that we have material as well as spiritual blessings? Should we ever look at ourselves and think, "I'm so thankful that God has given me so much."

I think this has several problems:

1. Your position is not necessarily better than someone else's.

2. You are called to be content in whatever circumstances, not content only in your current circumstances.

3. How do you know what is good or bad?

I heard this story once.

There was an old man who lived in a village. One day a horse wandered into his yard. The villagers came out and said, "Wow you are so lucky!"

The old man said, "This is neither good nor bad, only God can say."

The next day, his son was riding on the horse, and he fell off and broke his leg. The villagers came again and said, "How unfortunate! I bet you wish you never set eyes on the horse."

The old man said, "This is neither good nor bad, only God can say."

The next day, the army came to conscript all the young boys. The old man's son couldn't go because of his broken leg.

The story continues on like this. My point is that we should hold lightly to our circumstances, and not judge them as being better or worse than others. We are essentially saying to God, "I like my life being this way, don't change it" when we are thankful we are not like someone else.

Instead, we should be thankful for the objective truths, which other people share with us no matter what our circumstances.

"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."