Pharisee - yeah, that's me.

It is a frightening thing to realize that you yourself are a Pharisee. This realization comes when you finally see that the desires of your heart are not the desires of Christ's commandments, but rather fame, honor, and other personal desires. Seeing this truth about ourselves is a stinging yet saving gift from God, because then the false man who is built with the framework of pride and the bricks of delusion can crumble. Or to put it another way, we can begin to actually leave all behind and follow after Christ. After the rubble is torn away what remains is the man of flesh who depends solely on God for all his good and necessities - even his very breath. This vision of the self is crucifixion and burial. But God raises the dead and makes the dead alive in Christ, formed not with pride and delusion, but with the mystery of our salvation in Christ. That is to say, God accomplishes something in us our Pharisee-ism would never permit Him to do before.