Speck or Plank?

.. how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. Luke 6:42 NKJV

We are all good at seeing other people’s faults, and we even find time to tell them where they have gone wrong. Often! It’s human nature after all, and it is easy to see faults in others. If the faults are small, and there is a good relationship between you, then it can be quite funny, as long as you don’t mind getting the finger pointed back at you. ‘Funny Fault Finding Forever’ then? I don’t think so.

Jesus used the word I do not like to see levelled at us, ever. The word ‘hypocrite’ rings with fear in any Christian’s heart when it suggests we are not serious in our relationship with Jesus. The Lord made it clear to the pharisees. That’s us, the organised church you know, so we should not duck the issue, but face it head on. We should never jeopardise the Kingdom, or our testimony by finger pointing, or fault finding, no matter how sure we are of our facts. We might not know it all.

We are not the judge. God will ultimately judge, if not in this life, then certainly in the next, so we need to be careful that we don’t try to do His work for Him. We are not qualified! Jesus makes it clear that we tend to see the small sins in other lives, but we have BIG sins in our own, but we can’t see them because of the size of the plank. That’s a worrying thought. I am also aware of the wise saying: A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1 NKJV

Another thought in closing this blog. The hypocrite thinks he/she is helping the poor ‘sinner’ with the speck. In fact it only makes matters worse, but they may not even realise it! Take another look at these verses. Jesus’ words can really pull us up short sometimes, but we have to stay close to His example, and follow His will, no matter how right we think we are.