At the bus this morning – there was 2 girls sitting behind me. They were conversing quite loudly and not only that they were using some profane words as well.
Needless to say I got pretty annoyed. But not only that I started to look down on them ans think that I am so much better than them.. What an utterly sinful person that I am, a wretched being! Instead of praying, I started to judge and just like a true Pharisee I turn my nose up and look down on them.
And this is not just one occasion – this happen all too often. I am so quick to judge and look down at people instead of loving and caring for them. I guess the old self is hard to kill.
Coincidentally, at lunch prayer meeting today, we had a short devotion on Luke 18, what a timely rebuke.
"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."
Luke 18:10-14 – NIV