The Proud Pharisee Within

In Luke 18 Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed "about himself" and thanked God that he was not like "this tax collector" while reminding God of how often he fasted and his consistent tithing. The tax collector stood at a distance and couldn't even look up to heaven, but beat his chest and cried out to God saying, "have mercy on me, a sinner." Jesus tells us it was the tax collector who went home justified before God, because "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Andrew Murray's writes about this text with keen insight into the deception of pride in its many layers:

"Just when we are most anxious to have our heart the temple of God, we shall find the two men coming up to pray. And the publican will find that his danger is not from the Pharisee beside him, who despises him, but the Pharisee within who commends and exalts... Yes, even when in the temple the language of penitence and trust in God's mercy alone is heard, the Pharisee may take up the note of praise, and in thanking God be congratulating himself. Pride can clothe itself in the garments of praise or of penintence."