john ortberg wrote a terrific, yet convicting, article and is definitely worth a read. thanks to zach for the link.

there is a self-righteousness in me that does not want to die. there is something inside me that is not bothered when others are excluded, that wants others to be excluded, that feels more special when i’m on the inside and somebody else is not. there was something in me — even when i was young — that enjoyed looking at the flannelgraph and thinking about how much wiser and more loved by God i was than those foolish, exclusive pharisees.

it is not difficult to avoid death, gentlemen of the jury, it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death. Slow and elderly as i am, i have been caught by the slower pursuer, whereas my accusers, being clever and sharp, have been caught by the quicker, wickedness. i leave you now, condemned to death by you, but they are condemned by truth to wickedness and injustice.

- socrates