My Self-Righteousness-ometer is Off the Charts

"I'll take that bet
you're gonna regret
'cause I'm the best that's ever been."
(Charlie Daniels, The Devil Went Down to Georgia)

I've been convicted a lot lately about how my self-righteousness-ometer is off the charts. In the red zone. The problem is that, no matter how I try to articulate it nicely, how I try to hide it, I have a fundamental belief deep in my heart that I am better than you.

It really hurts to admit that, but if it's comforting to you, think of me as standing at the top of a rock pillar, and God keeps pulling rocks out. It's getting precarious up here.

Another blow yesterday in Sunday School, when a church-planter-hopeful to the Native American population in our city challenged our perceptions of that people group within our community. He didn't challenge our stereotypes per se, but rather, he challenged us to see ourselves in that stereotype: our sinfulness, our need for grace, our need for a Savior.

"When you see that drunk Indian on the news getting put in the back of a police car, see yourself."

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:14)