The Pharisee in Me

By Jill Briscoe

(transcribed by me from a radio broadcast)

One day I found within my heart

Someone who’d been there from the start

A prudish person, self-appointed

Self-sufficient, self-anointed

Though I a true disciple be

I’ve met the Pharisee in me

He passes people everyday

Who’ve lost their innocence some way

He says a prayer for those poor fools

For breaking his religious rules

“No time for mercy now,” says he

“At bible study I must be”

I know the Lord rebukes my guest

In scathing words at God’s behest

He tells me heed His words of strife

And realize He saps your life

He hates to share my heart, you see,

With him, the Pharisee in me

And why should He the God of Grace

Be forced to live here face to face

With him who hung Him up to die,

Against an angry anguished sky-

Who pierced His feet and crowned His head

Who laughed and left him very dead?

Forgive me Lord, I beg of thee

Deal with the Pharisee in me

I was driving in the car today and heard Jill Briscoe on the radio teaching on the Good Samaritan. She said we need to get off our "evangelical donkey and get in the ditch". Ouch! That stung... but it's the truth. I was challenged by her teaching regarding how I react to others in need. I can be a Pharisee (by judging their situation) or I can be a Levite (too busy "doing church" to see the need or expecting someone else to handle it.)
Jill says "compassion puts the man on his own donkey and walks to the inn."... Compassion doesn't say will I get appreciated... Compassion gets in the ditch...Come where they are. Lift them out. Pay for their recovery and follow-through."

I need God's help to "get in the ditch" and become a Samaritan.

If you'd like to listen to the full teaching you can find it at https://www.tellingthetruth.org/listen/series?name=hidden-treasures&sid=94b26f28-7350-44b8-a13e-a0cd1ece05fc
Look for Message Helping the Hurting in the Hidden Treasures series