“In an astonishing interview with the Sunday Telegraph, actress Joan Collins described the state of her soul and the inventory of her life’s conduct. Said Collins, ‘I have never done anything bad to anyone. Never. And that is one of the things I’m proud of—I have never hurt anybody. I have never been vicious about anybody, never taken any drugs, never tricked anyone; on the contrary, I can say that many, many people have done it to me—men, husbands, business associates, lawyers, the list is endless… I basically think that when one meets one’s maker, if I do, there won’t be anything I’ve done that I need to be ashamed of. Nothing.'”
– From Searching for Truth by Joe Boot, © 2002

This was the first paragraph in one of my devotions this morning. And I stopped reading. That’s me, sometimes, at the end of a day, thinking that it was a good day. Nothing bad was done by me. Things done to me, surely, but I of course took the high road. If that was where my thinking ended, then Satan has succeeded. Usually (through the Spirit’s help), at the end of the day, or hour, or minute, I come to the same place as the tax collector:

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'”
– Luke 18:13

Now that I re-read what I’ve written so far, it reminds me how often during the day I need to kneel before God and ask for His mercy. Too often I am blind to my own transgressions, or just in denial. AND, if I wait until the end of the day, or the end of the week, or longer, then my hindsight is even worse. Pray without ceasing!