Traits of a Pharisee (woe is me)
True confession time: Jesus blasts the Pharisees in Matthew 23. There, he lays out the characteristics of a Pharisee. Let's look at three of them. Trait 1 (verses 1-4)- We do not practice what we preach. If we are honest, we admit that it is so much easier to walk the walk than to talk the talk. I have done this my entire life with a "grace to me, law to you mentality. More recently I've done this to my children countless times; I've demanded things from them that I am incapable of doing. I chastised my daughters for being interested in boys stating, "God 's love should be enough for you. You should be willing to wait to date and don't look to others to meet your needs for love acceptance and forgiveness--look only to God. Meanwhile, for most of my life I've looked to everything on the planet besides God to meet my needs, and as a 55 year old man, I still fall into the trap of looking to other things to meet my needs. Trait 2 of a Pharisee -