I Am Self Righteous

There's no pun intended for the title of my blog.  I constantly make the mistake of thinking that I have "arrived" in my faith.  I think that I can take credit for where I am today.  It's at those moments that I prove myself wrong.  A while back I read this quote from a book I was reading:

"When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly that evil is still left in him... when a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less."

-C.S. Lewis

It's not that I should constantly condemn myself... but lately I've been praying that God would help me to remember where I came from and keep me aware of the things that my spirit is battling.  

"I realize that I don’t have what it takes.  I can will it, but I can’t do it.  I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.  My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions.  Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.  It happens so regularly that it’s predictable.  The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.  I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight.  Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.   I’ve tried everything and nothing helps.  I’m at the end of my rope.  Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does."

-Romans 7:18