Lord, thank you for… sparing me?
Today, my pastor spoke on 2 Kings 22. He focused mostly on this verse:
“When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.”
2 Kings 22:11
It was a pretty good sermon, but there was one part where he was talking about the passage in Luke 18 where the priest says “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
Of course we all look at that and say, “that guy was being so vain! How dare he!” When I realized, I do the same thing. Looking at my life, I have never had any major problems, I’ve never done anything that had irrevocable consequences. So I thank God for that. And rightly so. But shouldn’t I be focusing more on repenting for the ways that I have messed up in addition to thanking God for sparing me certain things? Or should I even be thinking about what I have been spared at all? Who am I to say that I have been spared? My life is just as messed up as any other persons, and I have only myself to blame. What do you guys think?
EDIT: Be sure to check out the comments. inWorship posted a comment that is probably better than my entire post!
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Comments
Comment from Michael
Time: 8 June 2008, 3:06 pm
True. Good points! I agree completely. Thanks for your input!
Comment from AK
Time: 12 June 2008, 4:23 am
How true! I too have meen fortunite to be brought up in a christian home, and have been “spared” the pain of most things. But God’s grace has allowed me to be baptized and has made me a new person, even forgiving the small things.
Time: 8 June 2008, 2:39 pm
Good thoughts.
That passage is interesting. It could be seen from 2 different perspectives.
One as you’ve mentioned. Reecognizing that we’ve been spared for the consequences of addictions and sexual sins. I am grateful for that as well.
The second would be, “I’m glad I’m not like them”.
It’s easy to read this and think that second one, but I think he was thinking the first.
I do think we should always be grateful that we’ve not gone through horrid situations, but I think we should always be reminded that sin is sin. Although there are earthly consequences that very in intensity, the heavenly consequences are the same for all of it. We are either redeemed or not. We either experience God’s full measure of grace or His full measure of wrath. Knowing that my life has been redeemed, I am grateful that I am not like the others in eternal consequence. This also makes me that much more passionate about making sure that others have the same opportunity to hear the news and experience what I have experienced.