Acts 23:3 (ESV)

Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”

Am I a whitewashed wall? Have I ever became so fervently focused on self-righteousness that I blinded myself to God's intent of the law? Have I forgotten Jesus's words,  ". . .for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." (John 12:47)

It's a sober thought--that judging others is deserving of God's retribution. It's the reality of death. Desire breads sin and sin brings forth death (James 1:15).  In the cause of the Acts scripture, the sin is self-glorification. It's a sin of replacing God with self.

Without God I'd be trapped in a cycle of desire, sin, and death. However, with God I'm given the escape.  Jesus came to impart a message of hope. Take the Gospel of John for example. The story of Lazarus--a dead man brought back to life. It's a perfect example of God's power, and a truth to hope in. That one day God will raise all his followers from the grave.  An literal example of his saving power: past, present, and future. Jesus came to redeem the world. We can see this in his actions and in his words. Interestingly enough Jesus is known as the word among us. In James I find the command to  "Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21). James makes it clear that human nature is corrupt and produces everything except justice. He basically says,"Perception of righteousness isn't enough--if you are not one with God, even the whitest-white, the best righteous act, produces only division."  So what are the options? James says there is only one option: to become more like Jesus.

But be doers of [Jesus], and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of [Jesus] and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:22-25)

Simply put, Jesus should consume entire focus.

Important question to ask: Are you consumed with your own righteousness, or are you consumed by a desire to become one with the word--Jesus?