The plank in my eye
Luke 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
As a Christian I try to follow Christ's Word as all believers should but when it comes to judging others I find myself as guilty as, if not more so, than any non-believer, a fact that I was convicted about during a conversation with my Mother today. She and I were discussing an old friend of mine from school, a girl who by all accounts was rather promiscuous both as a young woman as well as into her early adult life. It has been many years since last I saw this woman and I have not followed her life as we went very separate ways after I got married. So I had no reason other than old information to doubt her character. Yet when my Mother informed me that this woman was married to a preacher and had become a counselor, my first statement was "Seriously, she's so messed up how can she counsel anyone!"
And that is the moment when Christ stepped into my thoughts. At that moment the "still small voice" became a loud roar and what it said was "How dare you judge her? Are you so perfect? Are you without sin? What are the missteps of your past, of your present?" And of course I could not argue with such conviction. I am clearly not perfect, a fact that I am well aware of and my missteps are so many it's amazing I am not bruised from head to toe from my falls. And the worst part of it all is; not only did I fail to see my own sin before pointing out her's, I failed to take into account that Christ can change anyone!! It does not matter how big the sin or how far astray a person has gone.
I wish I could say that this instance was the first time I have made such folly but as I have already said, I am often guilty of judging others as are many Christians. Many times we view ourselves as better than the world around us, better than all the sinners around us. We talk about how others are going to hell, how they are so far gone it will take a miracle to save them. We forget that we were once in that place. We were once lost to sin, condemned by our nature, sentenced to an eternity in hell. We forget that it did take a miracle to save us! Yes, we are better than the world because we are no longer of it but we forget what Paul said in Ephesians 2: 8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast."
When we judge others, whether they be Christians who have back slid, or non-believers, we are not only defying God's command not to judge but we are also ignoring the simple fact that it was Christ who saved us as a gift from God. It was NOT by any righteousness of our own. We are doing exactly what Christ warned of in the verse at the beginning of this blog. We are ignoring the plank (beam) in our own eyes.
As a Christian I know that when I point out the wrongs of others, I am committing an error as great as theirs. So my prayer after today is this: That I may view others with Christ's life. That I will no longer judge others on their past or even present, ignoring my own sin in the process. And I also pray that the body of Christ in its entirety would do the same.
As a Christian I try to follow Christ's Word as all believers should but when it comes to judging others I find myself as guilty as, if not more so, than any non-believer, a fact that I was convicted about during a conversation with my Mother today. She and I were discussing an old friend of mine from school, a girl who by all accounts was rather promiscuous both as a young woman as well as into her early adult life. It has been many years since last I saw this woman and I have not followed her life as we went very separate ways after I got married. So I had no reason other than old information to doubt her character. Yet when my Mother informed me that this woman was married to a preacher and had become a counselor, my first statement was "Seriously, she's so messed up how can she counsel anyone!"
And that is the moment when Christ stepped into my thoughts. At that moment the "still small voice" became a loud roar and what it said was "How dare you judge her? Are you so perfect? Are you without sin? What are the missteps of your past, of your present?" And of course I could not argue with such conviction. I am clearly not perfect, a fact that I am well aware of and my missteps are so many it's amazing I am not bruised from head to toe from my falls. And the worst part of it all is; not only did I fail to see my own sin before pointing out her's, I failed to take into account that Christ can change anyone!! It does not matter how big the sin or how far astray a person has gone.
I wish I could say that this instance was the first time I have made such folly but as I have already said, I am often guilty of judging others as are many Christians. Many times we view ourselves as better than the world around us, better than all the sinners around us. We talk about how others are going to hell, how they are so far gone it will take a miracle to save them. We forget that we were once in that place. We were once lost to sin, condemned by our nature, sentenced to an eternity in hell. We forget that it did take a miracle to save us! Yes, we are better than the world because we are no longer of it but we forget what Paul said in Ephesians 2: 8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast."
When we judge others, whether they be Christians who have back slid, or non-believers, we are not only defying God's command not to judge but we are also ignoring the simple fact that it was Christ who saved us as a gift from God. It was NOT by any righteousness of our own. We are doing exactly what Christ warned of in the verse at the beginning of this blog. We are ignoring the plank (beam) in our own eyes.
As a Christian I know that when I point out the wrongs of others, I am committing an error as great as theirs. So my prayer after today is this: That I may view others with Christ's life. That I will no longer judge others on their past or even present, ignoring my own sin in the process. And I also pray that the body of Christ in its entirety would do the same.
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