Just how we are.

Howdy people, Allen Here! So what’s been burning in my mind for a long 10 minutes or so has been the thought of praying about yourself. I know, long time right? Anyways, I was remembering the story Jesus told the Pharisees that were confident in themselves about a Pharisee and a tax collector going to the temple to pray, with the Pharisee praying that he was glad he wasn’t like other people who were tax collectors and thieves and such. Meanwhile, the tax collector, unlike the Pharisee, sat in the back of the temple, and he didn’t look up to Heaven, beat his chest, and said “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus said that the tax collector was right before God rather than the Pharisee. I agree completely, but I want to dive into what I started thinking about now. For a Christian, when we pray out of happiness, it is wrong to be thankful that we aren’t like others. But is it wrong to be thankful that you are you? Never. God didn’t make you to be someone else, so being thankful that God made you just how he planned it is always good. When it goes from thankfulness to arrogance, that is when it is a problem. We aren’t all that great by ourselves. It literally took God technically dying and being raised up again for us to be reconciled to him, so we don’t have a place to brag. That’s why Jesus talked about the tax collector. We should also have the heart of the sinner, coming to God and asking for mercy, confessing our wrong and admitting imperfection and inability to save ourselves. Admitting we need a Savior is the key to being able to be thankful that we were made the way we were. Side note before I end it, we also should be thankful that God doesn’t leave us the same as when we first came to him. So being thankful that mercy and grace are forging an even better version of us is very good too. Till next time guys, Allen