The New Testament Scriptures tend to give religious people, often known as the Pharisees, a relatively hard time. And we follow suit, frowning and shaking our heads at them as we read.

 But they serve as a reminder of what we can become if we do not regularly face our own humanity; we risk becoming guardians of a standard, rather than ambassadors of ‘The Way‘.

Piousness, pride, and a sense of religious or spiritual superiority are some of the greatest threats facing seasoned followers of Jesus.

I once read – The ‘sinner’ is not a foe against us, an adversary to stand against, but in Scriptural terms, a ‘brother’. 

It reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount, a three chapter long section on the teachings of Jesus, where in a section he describes how his followers should treat those outside the faith and those who share the same faith.

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?  How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”

Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Mt 7:1–5).

Jesus is not condemning critique itself, but rather the criticism of others when we exercise no comparable self-criticism; nor correction.

In other words, Jesus calls out the self righteous because piousness blinds us to our own humanity. It seeks to hide our own shortcomings by pointing out the failures of others. 

We have a fatal tendency to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own. We seem to find it impossible, when comparing ourselves with others, to be strictly objective and impartial. On the contrary, we have a rosy view of ourselves and a jaundiced view of others. Indeed, what we are often doing is seeing our own faults in others and judging them vicariously. That way, we experience the pleasure of self-righteousness without the pain of penitence.

 Stott, J. R. W (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 178). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Like I said, Jesus isn’t opposed to the idea of critique, correction, or telling the truth, quite the opposite in fact. But what Jesus is addressing is the correction of others when we have not first taken the time to assess and correct ourselves. We should look at others through a lens that incorporates an understanding of our own brokenness AND God’s grace at the same time. How we view the world, others, and our place in it effects everything, and part of having a healthy understanding of all of it only happens when we first address the ‘log’ in our own eye. Yet, by doing that, we end up serving not just ourselves, but also others.

My mate (not actually my mate) Tim Keller notes –

“Counsellors will tell you that the only character flaws that can really destroy you are the ones you won’t admit.”

Keller, T. (2016). Prayer: Experiencing awe and intimacy with God (p. 100). UK: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

I am a recovering self-righteous person for sure. 😆😀

To anyone who ever felt judged by me because of things going on in their world and how I responded towards you, intentional or not, I am genuinely sorry. I know that pain.

In my own journey I was faced with a number of choices, to deflect, to shift blame, to fight…but mainly thanks to the wise counsel around me, cos God knows hiding from the world was on the cards, I attempted a different path. 

For me, rather than focusing on the faults of others as a means to get through, I tried to honestly face myself. With the help of some professionals, support from leaders and friends, I looked long enough in the mirror to own my own weaknesses/vulnerabilities, and to begin to address them. At the same time, identifying what was not mine to carry was important in the process. 

Why does that matter? Because one other great threats that followers of Jesus face, is shame. Accountability is key, because where there is no accountability shame brews stronger. Personally I think that where we see accountability in place we should allow accountability to do its thing, step back and simply offer love and grace. There is much to be said about shame, but to keep a long blog from being longer, it is the devils work for sure.

Simply –  shame kills confidence, relationships, ambition and dreams, it erodes creativity and healthy self-esteem. Shame doesn’t develop people into disciples and we should proactively work to eliminate it wherever it shows up. 

Once again…when we become guardians of a standard rather than ambassadors of ‘The Way’, we build a shame culture rather than a grace culture. Shame leads to death, grace leads to life.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. A good reminder that we are called to be like him, not be him. To model him the best we can, to walk in ‘The Way’ so others may also follow, and to guide where permission has been given. 

Whether it is self-righteousness or shame, the threat is to see the ‘sin’ first, but the call is to see the ‘brother’.