SPECKS AND PLANKS

"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

Have you noticed how it easy to recognize the problems of others, and to diagnose how they could change? But, with such remarkable insight into others, isn’t it interesting just how seldom others ask you to point out their faults and maybe offer your remarkable insight into how they might change? I once read some one say, “People like to think that their own body odor doesn't stink and its hard not to point it out. But, if you think ‘other people’ is actually someone else, you are mistaken. I am ‘other people’ and so are you. Your body odor stinks, and so does mine.”

You see, we are all humans…sinners saved by God’s grace, and to be honest, others want to change your faults just as much as you would like to change theirs. The problem is, we are not as good at diagnosing our own faults, as easily as we can point out everyone else's.

Jesus was very clear about pointing out other people's faults. He calls us all hypocrites if we choose to try it. He was extremely harsh and in Matthew 7:3 we see how He got his point across. He compared other people's faults to sawdust, and our own faults to a wooden plank or board. It is funny, how so many of us can quote this scripture, but few of us actually understand it fully. Jesus explained what He meant after He used such an exaggerated statement. He said, "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." I believe there are a couple of things that Jesus was teaching us in this statement.

The first was an understanding of grace. If we spend our time correcting the faults in others, we are showing them very little grace. Sure, they may have faults that actually need changed, but is it really critical that you point it out? Jesus was downplaying the severity of other people's faults by calling them "sawdust." Oftentimes, sawdust can be left for the wind to take care of, requiring no real attention. You can actually overlook sawdust, maybe even ignore it. Scripture says that "Love covers over a multitude of sins." It suggests that if we love others (and, of course we should love others MORE than we love ourselves), then their trivial little faults are not ours to deal with. If we love others, like we should, we should be able to overlook their faults and deal with more important matters. We should be extending them grace, and not be so quick to judge their faults.

By extending grace to others and their apparent issues, we can pay more close attention to our own, which is far more critical. Jesus said we should address our own problems first, because they are as enormous as a board stuck in our eyeball (my translation). Not suggesting that our faults are really that much bigger than other people's faults, Jesus was saying that our faults should be more obvious to ourselves if we are truly living a Godly life. A Christian should look inside his own life, measuring it against what scripture says. If we are doing this, then our own problems should be a little more obvious (as obvious as a board or plank).

While it is not easier to extend grace to others and work on our own faults, it is far more important. This is what Jesus wanted all of us to walk away with, the understanding that you cannot fix another person or keep their life from entering Hell, but you sure can keep your life from going there. Start everyday with asking Jesus to illuminate your own faults and then asking for His help to fix them. And, if you do, maybe it will start to make other people's own "sawdust" look a lot bigger to them.