God, I thank You that . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m a good person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I know about You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m respected by others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I live a clean life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I do good in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I have a good reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I can do without church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I consider myself a Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God, I thank You that . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like those who cheat on their taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like those who cheat on their wives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like those who cheat on their company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like those who cheat on their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I don’t lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not a hypocrite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like church-goers who treated me wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not the guilty one in personal conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not part of fake church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I don’t associate with hypocrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . . I’m not like so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– – –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: \u201cTwo men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, \u2018God, I thank You that I am not like other men\u2014extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.\u2019 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, \u2018God, be merciful to me a sinner!\u2019 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.\u201d
– – –
– – –
*Addendum to the parable:
God, I thank You that I’m not like the Pharisee—my heart is in the right place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Addendum to another parable:
God, I thank You that I’m not like the rich man farmer who “had much goods stored up for many years . . . to take it easy”—my heart is in the right place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*And in the actual story of an encounter with Jesus:
God, I thank You that I’m not like the rich, young leader who couldn’t give up his “great possessions” to follow Jesus—my heart is in the right place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God, I thank You that . . . . . . I’m a good person. . . . I know about You. . . . I’m respected by others. . . . I’m successful. . . . I live a clean life. . . . I do good in the community. . . . I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith_based","category-inspire_lifter","category-political-cultural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6246"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6246"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6318,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6246\/revisions\/6318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}