"...that age-old practice of man."

The bad guys of the New Testament are interesting characters. Herin are no thugs in ski masks marauding through the streets pillaging and plundering. No cheating money-lenders, no seductive whores... only religious leaders. The "teachers of the law". The former, are all part of the New Testament, that is, minus the ski masks I don't believe they had those. The Kingdom of God was ushered in to a people completely undeserving of grace. The only problem was, there were some who believed they were some how less unworthy than others.

If you want to see Jesus ticked off at anyone, check out His interactions with the Pharisees. Jesus had choice words to these people. But why? Why would those so close to God be so distanced from God incarnate? Who was their god, then? Perhaps, though, it is best not to speculate but to think, in "real time" as it has been dubbed. Do I derive my joy out of serving God or the feeling of accomplishment I enjoy when I see myself serving God? Do I obey out of love to God, or out of the exhilaration of accolades that follow my "self-sacrifice"? Should I like to be seen as pious and respected on the streets by my fellow Christians because of my exterior faith? If so, then it is clear what god I would be serving and what god the Pharisees served. That is the insatiable appetite of the god of self.

Let the pillars be torn down, and the plank taken out. The old wine skins disposed of and the new wine poured into new wine skins. Here there can be no room for the decaying stench of the worship of self, that age old practice of man. Let broken-ness be the aim. Never stop to think "how humble and broken I am becoming!" for then all is lost once more. [This is the summary of a chapter in C.S.Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters" on the subject of Pride] How much is lost, truly, when we come into the House of the LORD to worship and we cannot see beyond our selves? God, my God! May it never be! Break me! Let my cry be uttered with the tax collecter in Luke: "God, have mercy on me... a sinner!" refusing even to look up, but mourning my own pitious state and glorifying in the glory of God's love.