Hidden Rules

The Pharisees were leaders in the Bible who followed the law, but didn’t really have a love for God or man in their hearts. They loved their hidden rules and enjoyed showing others where they fell short. They wanted to appear to be good people. They refused to take responsibility for their own sin. 

I’m afraid to admit, that sometimes the Pharisee comes out in me. Honestly, I think we’d all like to hide the Pharisee in us. We naturally want to behave and believe that we’re pretty good people too! As Beth Moore writes “No one sees the Pharisee in themselves, but we all have one…. We all suffer from willful blindness.” 

How could there be a “Pharisee” in each of us? We have our favorite rules too. We want others to follow our rules and when they don’t??? We push the judgment button and hastily dismissed them as insignificant and wrong.

Just when we feel totally justified to judge those we think judge, we forget that we’re judging too! 

Just when it’s easier to pass the blame even when we blatantly messed up, we do it anyway.

Just when we are hurt by the gossip of others, we forget that we have done the same thing.  

Perhaps, we’re all ‘in hiding’ to some degree. We don’t want to get caught. We don’t want others to know that we really don’t have it all together. We’re not perfect, but please don’t let anyone know.

Every day, I’m tempted to act like a Pharisee. There are days I do. But, I’m so thankful for God’s grace when I sin. Admitting my sin before a loving and forgiving God is a good start. He is so ready to forgive me! There is freedom in knowing I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to make up hidden rules. I’m just one woman forgiven by a beautiful God. 

With Christ, there is no condemnation for our sins. There is no limit to Christ’s grace. There is no separation for God’s love. Why do we try to hide? 

“Our character must matter more to us than our reputation. We must learn to love the light, even when it exposes the darkness in us.” Scott Sauls

“I was buried beneath my shame. Who could carry that kind of weight? I was my tomb, till I met You. I was breathing, but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my tomb, till I met You. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness  into Your glorious day.” Glorious Day by Passion

“We are profoundly ambivalent about kindness in that we are never as kind as we want to be, but nothing outrages us more than people being unkind to us.” Karen Swallow Prior, On Reading Well

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.