Jesus rescued us from placing our value on the falling currency of pride and shame, for they are two sides of the same coin called self effort.

When we measure ourselves by either how good or bad we are, we fall under the same measuring stick that the Pharisee’s used.  Pride focuses on our polish, and shame is the crack we are trying to hide.  The end result is the same, relying on our own self efforts to determine our valuableness.  It is a dead end trap, one that Jesus set out to free us from. The answer is learning to walk in the spirit, looking to Christ alone as our foundation for righteousness, while putting the deeds of the flesh to death.  Then we shall live.