A Plank-Eyed Saint

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

-Matthew 7:1-5

The other night my roommate and I were picking at each others "cleaning skills".  Rebeca, my roommate, had cleaned up the kitchen.  She wasn't at the house so she had texted me letting me know that she had done so.  I texted back in a joking manner saying that I had seen a few spots that she had missed on the dishes.  She replied with, "Have fun navigating through your room!!!....Just wanted to point out the speck in your eye!!!"  And my reply, "Touche."

To me, that is one of the simplest examples of how quick we are to judge others without taking time to evaluate our own lives. This is just something that has been on my mind for quite some time now especially as I see it taking place more often among Christians (I know this may be a little repetitive from a previous post...oh well). Unless we are holding other Christians accountable in a loving manner or are concerned for the souls of the lost, how others live their life should not be of any concern to us.  

There have been times where I have been genuinely concerned for other people and the choices they were making and just wanted to help out. Then there have been other times where I have been so disappointed/aggravated with someone that all I can do is complain about them or talk about how they should do something, but never taking the time to love on them or be accountable.

How I see it, if you spend a majority of your time talking about the things others do that you don't like, you're not spending enough time holding yourself accountable of the things that displease God.  You're not better than the person you're talking about. 

"God calls us to display his love to others.  Put your own feelings aside and persevere with somebody.  Show them the same love that God has shown to you." -EWomen's Devotional

A question that I have and ask myself: Do we pray about it as often as we talk about it?

God tells us to pray without ceasing and to pray for others.  How often are we really praying for the person we may see as unlovable or for the unknown situation that they may be dealing with?  Do we really know anything about them besides the things we train our eyes to see?

{With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be. -James 3:9-10}

{Anyone who claims to be in the lights but hates his brother is still in darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness; he doesn't know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. -1 John 2:9-11}

I can think of so many times (some recent and some a while back) where I would talk and talk about someone.  God  convicted me then and is convicting me now of how I need to love that person.  But, to me, saying that you love them is not enough.  "Our words of love must be backed up by actions of love."

My challenges to you:

  1. Check yourself. Look at the plank in your eye that's causing you to stumble.

  2. Ask forgiveness of the person whose speck of dust you keep pointing out.

  3.  Pray for that person AND yourself.

In Christ,

Katie Jo