The Seven Sins Of Suburbia Part 5
The Seven Sins of Suburbia | Part 5
(Luke 18:9 – 14) He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Dangers of Complacency
- Comparison leads us to take our eyes off of God and place them somewhere else.
- Comparison leads us to feeling either prideful or envious.
- Comparison can lead to anxiety.
- Comparison causes us to miss out on what God is doing.
The Cure for Comparison
- Learn to be content with and use what God has given you.
(Hebrews 13:5 NIV) Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have . . .
(1 Corinthians 12:7, 11) A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.
(1 Peter 4:10 NIV) Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
- Be who God has called and created you to be.
(1 Corinthians 15:10) By the grace of God I am what I am . . .
(1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV) Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.
- Celebrate the diversity of the body of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 12:12 – 14) For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body – so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part but many.
- Repent and remember your need for God’s mercy.
(Luke 18:13 – 14) “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” . . .Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
(2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV) If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
