Self righteousness, arghhhh!

Can anything really be considered Christlike behavior when it is motivated by self interest?

Nobody is above anybody else and suggesting you are, doesn't that prove that you're not?

Perfection is never attained, so is anything other than private judgement (of actions, for the benefit of personal growth) ever ok?

Truthfully shouldn't we all assume that we always have things to learn and things we can change?

I will always remember a lesson I learned as a young child in Canada;

I looked longingly out our front window at three of my cousins riding their bikes and taking jumps in our driveway. I was mad, disgusted, upset and anything else that would suggest unrest.

"How come they get to break the sabbath and we don't?"

My father is generally not the most even-tempered or soft-spoken man in the world but when he responded to me his voice was soothing and exuded kindness from every intonation.

"Our family has chosen not to ride bikes on sunday and we feel that is a way we can honor the Lord's day of rest"

"But Dad, they go to the same church, shouldn't they..."

"Tana, everyone gets to make their own decisions on how they are going to live and what they are going to do to live their religion the best they can"

I grunted and turned away. He gently put a hand on my shoulder and continued.

"Until you have walked in their shoes you can't judge another person for their decisions, we don't play basketball on sunday right?"

"Right"

"Well what if you saw a family playing basketball on sunday and having a really good time, and you made the judgement that they didn't care about honoring the sabbath. Wouldn't you feel bad if later you found that their Dad had a job that made him travel and he was home for only a few days and he was spending every moment of it having fun with his family"

That seemed to make sense to me, and the hardness in my glare softened slightly.

"Tana you are in charge of you, you get to focus on your growth and progression, leave the rest up to the Being who truly can understand other people's situations"

I will always remember my father's words that day, they struck me with an intense force.

Now I'm not always perfect at not judging; but at the very least I do recognize that I'm not always right and I'm not above reproach. I am not better than anyone else, but it does hurt when others openly suggest they are above me.

I am aware that judging others for judging is hypocritical, so let me leave it at this; I am going to try and not judge others but I hope that others can understand my intentions and reserve their judgement as well. It's the least we can do for each other, to not place ourselves above others and become modern Pharasees.