Luke 18:9-14

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Here, Jesus gives another example of how not to be. The Pharisee in the story thanks God that he is "not like other men", but what he really means is "God, you should thank me that I am not like other men." He then lists all the ways that he has excelled in life so that God can praise him for it. He basically has it backwards.

Before I beat this guy up too much, I must admit that I think this trap is easy to fall into. One version of it might be to thank God for our blessings: our great job, our well behaved kids, our nice house, etc., when what may really be meant sometimes is, you guessed it, "thank You God that we are not like other men".

I think a way to get out of this trap if you ever find yourself in it, is to thank Jesus that He was and is not like other men, and focus on the ways that He excels and how we are blessed by Him and maybe not so much focus on the things He has given us.