Pride

I like the way Larry Crabb in his book, The Pressure's Off reflects on pride and thinking we deserve something when we don't. He talks about the proud Pharisee who came into the temple, stood up tall, and prayed about himself. "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."

What's the difference between the proud Pharisee and the humble tax collector? Neither had any right to claim God's blessing. One knew it. The other didn't. "The Pharisee," says Crabb, "still believed in the modified law of linearity: If we get the law mostly right, then everything we do will prosper. The tax collecter pinned all his hopes on the law of liberty - come as you are, undeserving, broken, desperate, and trust God will come near to you rather than banish you." Like the tax collecter all my hopes rest on God's grace. I don't have much else.