People have a tendency to judge themselves against others. We’ve all heard the term “keeping up with the Joneses.” We measure our successes compared to those around us: Do we have more money than they do? Do we have more stuff than they do? Do we have a bigger house than they do? Or fancier cars? Even, do we have more friends than they do?

We do this all the time in our lives. We might not realize it, but we also have a tendency to do the same thing when we assess our righteousness before God. This is what Jesus was talking about in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

It’s important for us to examine ourselves to determine where we are in our walk with Christ. However, it’s equally important to make sure we are using the correct measuring stick in order to determine where we need improvement. We must be honest with ourselves.

The Measuring Sticks

Our Measuring Stick

When we assess ourselves, do we measure ourselves against other believers? If so, this is not a fair or accurate comparison.

We do this when we say things like: I might not be a perfect Christian but I am a better Christian than that person. My sins are not as bad as that person’s sins. That person has a long way to go to catch up to me.

When we compare ourselves to others it gives us an excuse to be complacent. We know that we have flaws and we seek to justify ourselves using relative righteousness. We look at others, and their failings, and think we are not doing that badly after all. At least, not compared to them. This causes us to lose our motivation to improve; it makes us feel better about ourselves and where we are with God.

God’s standard is high, so we lower our standard by measuring ourselves against others. We think we are being good enough, but we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. There is no one who is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10 ESV).

God’s Standard

The problem with this mentality is that God doesn’t grade on a curve. This isn’t like a PGA tournament, where you just have to make the cut. When our cutoff date comes we will all be judged individually.

It doesn’t matter what we look like in the eyes of other flawed men. It only matters what God sees in our hearts. One on one with God. If, in our hearts, we are looking around trying to determine if we are better than someone else, or if we are doing good enough to get into Heaven, then we probably still need to work on our hearts.

We are warned about this in Corinthians:

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV)

This is exactly what the Pharisee in the parable was doing. He was using relative righteousness to justify himself, and Jesus said he was without understanding. Meanwhile, the tax collector measured himself by God’s standard and understood he came up short, and he was repentant. This is why Jesus said the tax collector was justified before God.

This was a shocking conclusion to the parable for those who heard it then, and it should give us pause today when we read it, because we probably do the same thing more than we care to admit.

We all need to determine if we are using relative righteousness to justify ourselves before God, or if we are being honest with ourselves. If we are being honest, there is not one of us who is righteous when we use God’s standard. We can’t gain favor with God by just being better than the other guy.

This is about drawing closer to God, not about pulling away from other Christians. It’s not a race to the top, it’s a walk across the finish line. We should be building each other up (Ephesians 4:29) so that we can all cross together.

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