And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Luke 6:41-42 (NLT)
It was so easy to see the problem my friend had. The speck in his eye clearly revealed he was not managing his personal life the way he should. At lest that’s what I thought. Then we had a talk. During our conversation he took out a small mirror and challenged me to take a look. After a brief glance, I realized the speck I had located in his tearful eye was actually just a reflection of the telephone pole-size log of hypocrisy sticking out of mine. Ouch!
The problems we experience with others are often not with them but inside us. Only after we’ve begun to address the problems in our own life can we approach others with humility, love, and grace. Remember, God only holds us responsible for our own problems, sins, weaknesses, mistakes, inconsistencies, and motives, not the issues of others.
Dear God, I fall short of who I want to be and who You made me to be. In the best way I know how, I ask that You please forgive me of my sins. Help me never use someone else’s weaknesses or stumbling to be an excuse for my criticism. Help me keep the tweezers in my medicine cabinet. Amen.
Blessings,
