A PRAYER PROBLEM
“I thank thee, that I am not as other men are…even as this publican.” It’s not the first part of this man’s prayer that got him into hot water, but the latter. After all, what godly woman doesn’t thank God she is not a harlot, etc.? And what good Christian man is not thankful he isn’t a drunkard or something worse? The problem with the prayer is not in evaluation but elevation.
ALL ARE MADE FROM THE SAME MOLD
It is not wrong to be thankful you’re not like other men. But it is to think you’re better. We are all cut from the same Adamic “cloth,” and as such, are capable of anything and everything anyone else does. As it is said, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” To be humbly thankful you have not experienced another’s misfortune is one thing; but to be haughty and boastful of this fact is another.
