Matthew 7:3-5 AMP
3 Why do you look at the [insignificant] speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice and acknowledge the [egregious] log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get the speck out of your eye,’ when there is a log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite (play-actor, pretender), first get the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
A man walked around the village wearing a most interesting coat. All down the front, it was covered with patches of various sizes, but most of them were large. When asked why the coat was patched in such a remarkable way, he answered that the patches represented the sins of his neighbours. He pointed to each patch and gave the story of the sin of someone in the village. On the back of his coat, there was a small patch. On being asked what it represented, he said, “That is my sin, and I cannot see it.”
Have you ever heard a juicy story about a brother or sister in the faith and, without even finding them to hear their side of the story, you passed on that information to others? We have all been there, especially in this social media-driven age, and as we know, such juicy stories get the likes and comment that many crave.
We sometimes take the role of the judge, jury, and executioner. Likewise, we are quick to expose and put to shame fellow brethren the moment we discover something nasty about them, sometimes not even taking the time to verify the authenticity of the “scoop”. When we point out that insignificant speck in our brother’s eye, we tend to ignore the log in our eye. When dealing with others, we cry out for their blood, but when we are the ones on the spot we cry out for grace, mercy, and understanding.
I find that sometimes when I have a log in my eye and I see a brother with a speck in their eye, I can get so harsh with them, or I become so quick to expose them because it takes the attention off my issues and I seem to be better than they are but as we know, it is all a fallacy, I am simply deceiving myself.
Jesus reminds us that before we pass judgment on others, we need to examine ourselves, we must put ourselves on the scales of his word because it is the standard and not compare ourselves with others. To focus on the speck in another’s eye while conveniently forgetting the log in our eye is hypocritical before God. We should not focus so much on trying to fix the little things in the lives of others; instead, we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Reflections.
Have you ever focused so much on the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the log in your eye? What was the issue, and how did you deal with it?
What are some issues you would consider a speck that we tend to focus on and magnify?
How does the Bible direct us to handle a brother or sister who falls into sin?
