Every Christian at some point or another has fallen into a certain level of moralism. The moment you start thinking that you’re not prone to “pharisee-ism” is probably the moment that you are starting to fall into the trap.
Pharisees were devout Jews, but were known to be the people that often fell on the side of Jesus’ strong rebuke. It wasn’t that He didn’t love them because God loves everyone, but He admonished their self-righteous attitudes and perceived self-worth.
While most of us may not believe that we’re at the level of being self-righteous, we should always be careful and look deeply into ourselves regularly to check for signs that we are becoming arrogant and judging others rather than ourselves.
It may be important to note that the pharisees also didn’t believe they were acting in a self-righteous way either. They didn’t wake up and think, “Oh, I think I’ll be a moralistic and self-righteous believer today.” Moralistic tendencies are actually in all of us to some extent because it is our default to think in a moral framework. While this is not all that bad, it’s not all that harmless either.
Here are 12 different signs that we can use to check ourselves to make sure we are not falling into “pharisee-ism” and becoming self-rightous and judgmental.
1. We are quick to ignore our own mistakes, and even quicker to spot the mistakes of others.
2. We focus on our skills and strengths and ignore our weaknesses. That’s not to say that we should ignore our strengths and emphasize our weaknesses, but we must be aware of both and accept them as always present.
3. We act differently when in front of people than when we are all alone by ourselves.
4. We value tradition more than people.
5. We value results over relationships. Results are good, but they are best acquired when done together.
6. We insist that people follow our way of doing things — the way we raise our kids, the way we teach, the way we lead or even the way we worship.
7. We become attracted to the spotlight and find every opportunity to be placed in it.
8. We’re always looking for the perks and never sacrificing benefits for the sake of others.
9. We take honor more than we give it.
10. We value convenience over serving others, and often find it hard to go out of our way for those who are of an apparent lower stature than ourselves.
11. We preach advice over the good news.
12. We do things to obtain the praise of man, rather than the praise of God.
By Patrick Mabilog
