Am not like her? I don’t gossip like she does? She’s always up in other peoples business wanting to know everything about everyone yet she’s the first one to go and spread the news. Am not like him? I don’t beat up my wife like everyone else does! I don’t drink, I don’t smoke am different! We are so quick to point our fingers on other people and say they do this and they do that, and rarely do we look at ourselves. Everybody else is wrong but we are right, everybody else aint living like Christ, but we are. The unfortunate thing about all this, such people don’t ever want to be corrected and told their wrong! They are unapproachable, simply because you always have to fake it around them! They are “Self Righteous”
Most times as Christians we fall short and keep falling short of the Glory of God, however the saddest part about all this, is that we don’t want to see our shortcomings. You might find someone who lives right with God, but still has ‘pride’ issues! They never see their ‘pride,’ but will be quick to judge an adulterer. Sin is sin, it doesn’t matter whatever angle your looking at it. Christians all over the world are struggling with issues & skeletons of their past, however, majority of them can never share their struggle, because if they do people might judge them. I once learned a story of a married couple who loved each other but somewhere along the way, the husband cheated on the wife and she came to know of it. She demanded answers of why he did it, but he never explained anything to her, maybe because of the guilt, maybe because of the shame, and he never said sorry. One thing led to another, the wife knew she was right in demanding answers and because the husband never gave her any, she slowly by slowly started drifting from him. They stopped talking to one another as they used to, their intimacy levels dropped drastically, its almost like they became brother and sister in the bedroom! no touching.
The wife walks around “am right and your wrong” and the husband walks around “am wrong, but how do I ever say sorry.” The ego and pride in both of them was alarming! But isn’t this the same story in most people? pride and ego has ruled over our hearts. Its not just in marriages but in friends and other relationships out there. Our hearts are too proud to admit our mistakes! our hearts are too proud to just say, “am sorry,” “I was wrong about this issue,” “please forgive me.” And we walking around like we are okay, but we are not! We build anger from the inside, we build hate and resentfulness, we build a sense of ‘justification,’ your justified for doing what your doing because people hurt you! Is this what Jesus taught us? I don’t think so.
Don’t get me wrong, am not justifying adultery in any way, am just saying, sometimes when people have done bad things to us, in as much as they don’t seem like they are remorseful, they actually are, but they don’t know how to approach the matter. This is made even hard when we always reminding them of their past, “remember your the one who cheated.” What if God reminded us of our sins and our past? what if we were trying to take one step forward in our faith with God and He kept reminding us of how bad we were, would we walk forward or would we fall backwards ten steps? This is what we keep doing to each other, this is how we keep hurting each other instead of building each other and building the inner man. Most of us are walking & living but we walking & living wounded. Wounded from our past, and the fact that people in our lives keep reminding us of how we were. We might smile or even laugh about it, but deep inside, we are hurting!
When Jesus came down, He was always spotted with the condemned (so to speak) and the outcast. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were always on His case, they didn’t understand why Jesus spent His time with the sinners. The Pharisees were “Self Righteous,” they saw themselves cleaner and better than anyone else! However, their hearts were deceitful and full of pride! They were so full of themselves, that they even made sure an innocent man was crucified! They were ready to exchange Jesus for Barnabas because Jesus didn’t fit in their ‘circle.’ Look at us even in churches, yes I will go there! we are always seeing wrong in other people instead of being a friend and see how you can help a sister or a brother who might be on the wrong! We become too harsh on them, that somewhere along the way, they give up on this fight simply because no one sees they are trying. No one is ready to lend a hand and just walk with them in this journey of Christianity. We are loosing people who used to be saved to the world, why? because the world shows them love, we don’t! Friends of the world are quick to buy them drinks and just hear them out, we don’t! We need to change our game! we need to emulate Christ and always ask ourselves, “what would Jesus do in this situation?” Would He bash someone? or would He hold them and lend them His shoulder to cry on? Its a choice really, one that we need to make everyday, to be different! To be loving and caring! To be a friend and be there when someone needs us! To stop judging and leave everything for Christ to Judge.
The life that Jesus lived was a life of simplicity! but at the same time, it was a life that cared for people, showing love and affection. Never at one time did Jesus ever want to harm the Pharisees for their continual attack on His life. And this is the way that He would like us to live with one another. Our world keeps changing with smart phones and people are always on the net! snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, the list is endless. However underneath all the snap chatting and facebooking there is a sense and a need for people to belong and be loved, but they hide it all on the internet thinking their followers and people who ‘love’ their photos online would compensate for the love they lack inside.
Were just a few days to Christmas, a time to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The reason why He came was to save us all, and not “some” of us. None of us is better than the other! None of us is more saved than the other! Let us choose to be different, let us emulate Christ Himself! Lets stop being “Self Righteous,” and be our brothers keeper!
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