Read Luke 18:9-14
“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.’”—Luke 18:11
Jesus told the parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee pointed out the sins he didn’t commit with pride for his own righteousness, and contempt for the people who committed the sins he listed. He prayed with a judgmental smugness that pompously whispered, “Oh, I’d never do that. Such things are beneath me!”
Before condemning the Pharisee for his self-righteousness, we should ask, how many times have we said or heard, “I’m not perfect but, I’d never do that”? That is the repugnant, odious sin we think is simply unimaginable. Truthfully, there’s a magical that which lies beyond our threshold of acceptance. Certainly, anyone who does that deserves a special place at the lowest level of Hell!
In reality, “that” exists because we stratify and categorize sin. But the Word of God is clear, your sin may not look like mine; my sin may not look like yours, but despite our personal judgments, sin is sin.
Categorizing sin based on our personal standards of acceptable and unacceptable behavior allows us to feel contempt for others and their sin, while justifying our own actions. If, like the Pharisee, we choose to look down on others, we’ll always find someone involved in sin we feel is repulsive and distasteful. Looking down floods us with pride based on where we are in comparison to our fellow-man. Yet, looking up allows us to experience humility and true self-awareness, based on who we are in respect to Christ. Looking up focuses our gaze on the only One positioned to judge, Jesus Christ.
One of the best remedies for self-righteousness is self-examination—seeing ourselves for who we are. When was the last time we examined our own lives? Doing so would be best before examining the lives of others…
Lesson to Remember: It’s easy to judge the sins of others when you stop looking at your own sin…
“But let a man examine himself…For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.”—1 Corinthians 11:28, 31
