There's a Log in My Eye!
I was mowing the lawn last week and had one of those “lightbulb” moments. Don’t you love when that happens? I was thinking about the passage where Jesus says to take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck of dust out of your brother’s eye. I feel like I have a new understanding of what that verse means.
In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus talks about judging others. In verse 5, He says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
I’ve always (maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously) looked at this and thought, in order to judge others, I just need to fix myself up real quick. “Yes Jesus, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, forgive me, thanks God you’re a cool God, sure, talk to you later amen…” and went on judging others the way I saw fit. Because I “asked for forgiveness”, I had every right to go and judge others now. Now that I fixed my problem, I can go point my finger in everyone else’s face about their problems.
Well I don’t really think that’s what Jesus meant when He said this. Jesus says we have a log in our eye, and we should worry about that because frankly, a log is a lot worse to worry about than a simple little speck. If I honestly had a physical log stuck in my eye, I don’t think I could quickly just get it out and get over it. I mean that would take a LOT of work to make sure I came out of the operating room ok!
What I’m saying is this: we’re always going to have logs in our eyes. We’ll always have something to deal with in our own lives. Getting the log out of your eye doesn’t mean simply “getting the rights” to judge someone else; it’s an honest examination of yourself, and we have to ask God to show us the log. Once the time is taken to remove one, another issue will show up in our lives, and we’ll have to ask God to take care of that one too!
Am I saying not to help each other out? Of course not! If you see a friend with a problem or struggling with something that doesn’t honor God, help him in the way that you can. But acting like we’re above and beyond them because we’ve already taken care of our problems is just silly thinking. We will always have logs to deal with; the question is, will you allow Jesus to remove it?
In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus talks about judging others. In verse 5, He says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
I’ve always (maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously) looked at this and thought, in order to judge others, I just need to fix myself up real quick. “Yes Jesus, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, forgive me, thanks God you’re a cool God, sure, talk to you later amen…” and went on judging others the way I saw fit. Because I “asked for forgiveness”, I had every right to go and judge others now. Now that I fixed my problem, I can go point my finger in everyone else’s face about their problems.
Well I don’t really think that’s what Jesus meant when He said this. Jesus says we have a log in our eye, and we should worry about that because frankly, a log is a lot worse to worry about than a simple little speck. If I honestly had a physical log stuck in my eye, I don’t think I could quickly just get it out and get over it. I mean that would take a LOT of work to make sure I came out of the operating room ok!
What I’m saying is this: we’re always going to have logs in our eyes. We’ll always have something to deal with in our own lives. Getting the log out of your eye doesn’t mean simply “getting the rights” to judge someone else; it’s an honest examination of yourself, and we have to ask God to show us the log. Once the time is taken to remove one, another issue will show up in our lives, and we’ll have to ask God to take care of that one too!
Am I saying not to help each other out? Of course not! If you see a friend with a problem or struggling with something that doesn’t honor God, help him in the way that you can. But acting like we’re above and beyond them because we’ve already taken care of our problems is just silly thinking. We will always have logs to deal with; the question is, will you allow Jesus to remove it?
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