And so she began:
"Dear Jesus, please help my Mom. She isn't feeling well. Could you make her be just like me? Well, except for my rash. And don't give her the ouchy dry skin on my hands or the hangnails on my fingers. Actually God, you probably shouldn't make her like me. Could you make her be like You?"Yes, God, could you make me be like You? My daughter couldn't have said it better. That is my heart's desire, to be like You.
However, Susie made the mistake that many of us in the church often make. How many times have we looked at other people and sized ourselves up against them? I may not be as skinny or as muscular as so and so. Or I may not pray as well as so and so. We don't have as much money as that family over there or I can't sing as well as the people leading worship. We get so focused on our abilities and characteristics and other people's abilities and characteristics that we completely lose sight of what being a Christian is all about. It isn't about comparing one sinner to another. As Susie learned during her prayer, we are all very flawed. Trying to be like someone else doesn't make us better and it doesn't fix our problems.
Jesus clearly explains in Luke 18:10-14 that while we like to place some sort of hierarchy on sinners, there is no such thing. We all fail. We all fall short. And no one is able to perfectly keep the law - not the Pharisee (knowledgeable famous pastor) or the Tax Collector (guy who forcibly takes other people's money for a living and isn't well liked).
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
There are many people in the church who seem to have it all together and many others who may think to themselves, "If only I could be like those 'super Christians' over there!" But the truth is not one of us is good. (Romans 3:10-12) We are all so far from good that no one has the right to be haughty and no one else should be upholding another person as the standard for their life. Our standard is Christ. No other sinner is my role model. We are all flawed. Yes, we can learn from one another. We can help one another. We can comfort and teach one another. But I don't want to be like Susie, and I don't want Susie to be like me. I'm grateful that my 7 year old daughter quickly learned the error of her ways while she was praying. Because if she prayed for me to be like her, I wouldn't necessarily be better. I would just have a different set of problems. The only way I would be truly well is to be like Christ. So that is what she prayed, and I'm thankful that she did. I'm also grateful that God took that moment to teach us all the truth about who we are and who He is. We need a good and perfect God to show us the way. May we all strive to be like Him.
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