![[Photo of a Scripture verse]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Matthew_7_3-5.jpg)
| “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?” |
| —Matthew 7:3 |
We seem to have a quick trigger when it comes to recognizing other people’s sins. Why we jump right up onto our soapbox and begin to decry all manner of evil in others. But, we seem all too slow to recognize our own sins.
Notice the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 7:3-5:
“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.”
In this statement, Jesus is not minimizing the sins of others. In fact, His whole point is that we have enough sin in our own lives that we should focus first on dealing with our own sins before we start attacking the sins of others.
Yes, we do have a responsibility to the world to offer commentary based on the righteousness of God. We know what He has required by reading His written Word. We also know that Jesus most often approached sinners with patience, kindness, and love. We would do well to follow His example.
As this new day begins, let’s start our day by examining our own lives and confessing our sins. We need to pay particular attention to those sins that we repeat over and over again. If we have difficulty trusting God for this new day, let’s confess our lack of faith and ask for His help in believing He will guide and protect us. If we have some other sins that trip us up continuously, let’s confess those sins and ask the Holy Spirit to help us steer clear of them.
By focusing on cleaning up our own lives first, we will do much better at following in the footsteps of Jesus than if we spent all of our time calling out the sins of others. And, after all, we need clean minds and hearts if we are to properly represent our Lord in this troubled and needy world.
