Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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.” Matt. 7:1-5Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Col. 3:12-14
Dear heavenly Father, when I rubbed my irritated eyes this morning, I soon realized it wasn’t “morning eye” but a rough-hewn board stuck there. I didn’t realize it till now, but I spent too much of yesterday as a prosecuting attorney, judge and jury, warden and executioner.
Bad drivers, slow clerks, bombastic talk show hosts, political juggernauts, even red lights and smashed pumpkins in the road, there were a lot of easy targets for my bad attitude. Just because I don’t get “large and loud”, doesn’t mean I can’t be an angry and critical. Condescending smugness is just a synonym for clanging cymbals (1 Cor. 13:1). Bloodless homicide committed in my heart is still murder (Matt. 5:21-22).
Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, you who are so forbearing, kind, and gracious. Have mercy on me, the self-righteous sinner. My self-righteousness usually shows up not in trying to merit more of your love but in withholding your love from others—getting irritated, becoming rigid and passively aggressive.
Lord Jesus, as cardiologist and ophthalmologist, bring your grace and truth to bear in my heart and my eyes. I want to love as you love and see as you see. I do not want people to feel pressure to change who they are around me, nor do I want them to feel my indifference and disengagement. Teach me and lead me in the third way—the way of the gospel.
Since you do call us to help one another with our “specks of sawdust,” help me be a first responder to the life-giving rebukes my friends offer me—a humble recipient of the feedback and reproof of those who long for my freedom. Grant me a correctable heart, quick repentances and the gospel fruit. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ gracious and forbearing name.