Certain that trusted in themselves

Jesus taught “certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous” and my immediate thought was, “ah, Pharisees.” That may or may not have been true but as I thought about it I realized that trusting that you are righteous—if that means having some assurance that your life is differently in harmony with God’s will—is not necessarily a bad thing. Where people go wrong is when they begin to despise others—the “Lord, I thank thee that I am not like other men {like that guy over there}.”