I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand why some Christians get mad when we say that the ultimate hero in the Bible is not Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, etc... but Jesus.

As long as I am focusing on the faults of others, then I don't have to face my own.

In those moments when I'm obsessively counting my sins against me, it is good news to remember that God has counted my sins against Christ.

Don't get me wrong - what we do is important. But it is infinitely less important than what Jesus has done for us.

If you feel compelled to respond every time you're criticized it reveals just how much you've built your identity on being right.

The more I focused on my need to get better the worse I actually got - the more neurotic and self-conscious and self-absorbed I became.

Self-righteousness is unavoidable. You can either be a self-righteous Pharisee where you think you are better than everyone else or you can be a self-righteous pagan who thinks you are better than the Pharisee. If you are a self-righteous person, I could become very self-righteous thinking that you're self-righteous and you think you're so good but I know you're bad. I know I'm bad so that makes me better than you.