In Chapter 3 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman concludes his description of six verbal symptoms of a prideful heart.
You may be a Pharisee if . . .
6. you catch yourself saying, “It’s not me; it’s you.” Although this seems like the mirror image of a famous breakup line, the reference here is to the ability of the Pharisee’s twenty-twenty vision to detect the flaws of others. The Bible, however, points out that pride is blinding. Kyle wryly observes:
“You can’t see the pride in your life because of . . . well, because of the pride in your life.”
Recently, while Kyle was driving his kids to school, his son asked: “Dad, why do you always talk to the other drivers? You know they can’t hear you.” Pastor Idleman quickly realized he was a Pharisee on wheels. His car has big windows showing every car but his own- and a tiny little mirror that shows him.
Other Pharisee indicators include celebrating someone else’s failures, obsessing over the opinions of others, and being utterly convinced that your opinion is the only one that is correct. Pride, the author stresses, is “the ultimate issue of the human condition”- the mother of all sin. The Pharisee keeps getting in because we feed our internal Pharisee and we let him/her grow.
Next, Kyle takes a look at what makes our inner Pharisee so powerful.
Today’s question (From Kyle): In what ways have you caught yourself behaving like a Pharisee? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Humblebrag”
