What is spiritual pride and how can I detect it in my life?
Spiritual pride is deadly and deceitful because from the outside it appears as a virtue. Jesus illustrated spiritual pride in a parable saying, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican” (Luke 18:10). At Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were respected for their piety, while the publicans were regarded as great sinners. In the parable, the “Pharisee stood and prayed thus … God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess,” while the “publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:11–13). After the prayer, the humble publican went home justified and forgiven (Luke 18:14), while the Pharisee who trusted in his good works, did not. To those who recognize and admit their poor spiritual state and rely only on the