We have a way of deflecting focus from our own sins to those of others. In this we see the shortcomings and sins of others as greater than our own. It is an easy trap in which to be caught, but it is not altogether subconscious. We like the moral high ground from which we can view the valley of all those below us. It is not a harmless problem. It stops our spiritual progress and is itself a grave sin for which to repent. Jesus strongly denounced it. The Sermon on the Mount is only one example. He forbade those not without sin to throw stones at one they deemed to be a greater sinner.
“And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’” John 8:7 (ESV)
