Why We Can’t See What We Are Doing

You can’t see what you are doing. There is an object that is blocking your view. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 7:1-5:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Why are we so preoccupied with everyone else’s behavior? Is it really that we care about the souls of others? Is it really that we want God and His word to prevail? Is it really that we want the church to shine in this dark and sinful world? Is it really that we are saddened by the choices and activities of those who should know better? If all of these things are truly the things about which we are concerned, do we have the same level of indignation about them in our own personal lives?

Many people abuse this passage and determine that Jesus is saying that people can do whatever they want to do and that they are not to be judged for doing it. To conclude such would be a gross mishandling of the text. Ecclesiastes states that, “…God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14). And while Jesus here condemns hypocrisy, He does not condemn making wise and righteous judgments (John 7:24). The point of emphasis here is not the do’s and don’ts of what is morally right or wrong.

Jesus was teaching a lesson about self-awareness. This whole passage rises and falls on the reality that we are all sinful, and that we need to concentrate on fixing those individual problems which are going to cost us our souls. The plank has got to go – as does the speck! But the reason the speck is rarely removed is because we are trying to get it out when the beam remains. So when it comes to our noble efforts to correct others, this is why everybody always ends up poking each other in the eye.

Guess what, friends? There is sin in the church. There are people who attend worship with you that are worldly, who have terrible priorities, who are not serving, who have negative attitudes, and who generally are making the church look bad to the rest of the world. But before you start fixing everybody’s spiritual problems, make sure that you do not fall into the same category as they do. One of the saddest sights in the Lord’s kingdom is observing a Christian dogmatically correct another Christian while the rest of the church watches that same Christian overlook a major flaw they have themselves.

How ironic it is that we always think we have the speck and the other person the plank! Work on YOU! (Phil. 2:12). Work hard on you! And when you have been humbled by the process of plank removal you will be much more careful to patiently and lovingly help another person remove that which takes a lot of time and a delicate attention.

It is your job to help others! But it is also your responsibility to make sure you can see what you are doing.

—————–

To Receive Every Post via Email for Free, Click Here

Photo background credit:  John Scott on Creative Commons