Flying Standby

Posted on Jun 26, 2017 Topic : Weekly Devotionals

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 (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV).

If you want to see what you look like, you look in a mirror. If you want to see what someone else looks like, you look out a window. Jesus is saying we need to spend more time looking in the mirror and less time looking out the window. The next time you see a splinter in someone else’s life, look for the log that is in your own. Remember, the splinter is just a piece of the log. What you see in others is just a reflection of what you see in you.

- 52 Weeks with Jesus

Have you ever caught yourself mentally criticizing someone else and immediately you remembered that very fault you’re seeing in someone else is similar to a failing in your own life? Or perhaps you’re ready to judge someone when you suddenly realize they’re dealing with a sin you once had to overcome. Just as you’re ready to mentally pounce on them, you stop and pray: “Oh, Lord! That was me not so very long ago. How could I have forgotten what it’s like so easily?”

God saves us all for a reason. Part of his plan is for those of us who have found freedom from a particular sin to walk alongside and befriend those still struggling. That’s 180 degrees from our natural inclination to cluck our tongues in judgment.

It may also be out of our comfort zone to come alongside someone who is wrestling with fierce temptations. But when we allow compassion to move us to action, we imitate Christ’s actions on our behalf.

So whenever you find yourself looking out the window in judgment of others, turn back to the mirror and see who you are. You’ll find the mirror has a memory. It can remind you of who you once were. That revelation will surely end all judging and fill you with compassion for the ones on the other side of the window.