I am better than you!

Even imagining a time when speaking those words to another is difficult.  That just isn't something that should be said - ever!

Growing up, I remember hearing about Pharisees.  To my young mind, these guys were self-serving and arrogant.  They held themselves up as entitled, all-knowing, it's-all-about-the-rules-kinds of people.

And I thought, "I don't ever want to be a Pharisee."

Just by recognizing my Pharisee phobia, I can't give myself a pat on the back, though.

I am better than you!


Are these words ever spoken in the privacy of thought? Does that make them less disturbing to a sense of self?  Is it more acceptable to our righteousness that no ear hears this judgment?

So then, about those Pharisees and my phobia.  It seems that in my effort to avoid this title, I've already become like them simply by elevating myself above them.

"Thank you God, that I'm not like .... them!" is no different than;

I am better than you!

Verbalization is not required. In my mind, I'm frequently quick to judge.  And most of the time, I fail to even recognize that I'm doing this.

• What an idiot.  Look how he drives.  Reckless bozo!
• Wow.  That mother just can't control her kids.  Some people shouldn't have them.
• You're eating doughnuts?  Whoa.  If I were you, I'd start watching the calories, buddy.
• Look at him.  Bowing his head like he's really praying.  That's not how he was acting at the softball game last night.

I am better than you!

Every thought that judges another brings me closer to the person I do not want to be and further from the person I hope to be.

• The idiot driver is taking his wife to the hospital.  There's been an accident and she's bleeding out.  Every second counts.
• The mother hasn't slept for 24 hours and has the flu.  Her kids haven't been able to sleep either because of the heat and lack of air conditioning.  Everyone is irritable. 
• The doughnut eater just got one more employment rejection.  It's been a year.  The only consolation is chocolate covered cake.  His weight is embarrassing but he's just so depressed.
• Softball guy knows he overstepped last night and he's asking for forgiveness.

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. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise 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, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:11-14