4 MAY 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye: Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42
My kids’ teacher used to say, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. Having good self-awareness is important in life. We can think too highly of ourselves and come off as arrogant or foolish in the eyes of other people. In this passage, Jesus is speaking about how we engage other people and our own soul condition.
Judging and condemning others is not our role as a believer with one exception. We cannot judge people that are not Christians, but we are to judge those that are. (1 Cor. 5:12) We are to help each other become the person that God wants us to be and that requires discernment, judgment, correction, and love. Iron sharpens iron by scraping, not beating. Beating warps and damages the steel.
You might have the gift of seeing other people’s sin (tongue in cheek), but not be able to see your own. For us to become useful instruments in the hand of God, we need to honestly and humbly deal with our own sins before we help others with theirs. Both brothers in this story need to be sharpened and developed, so we have to deal with issues of sin directly. We can’t leave each other in sin, because that is not the loving thing to do. We both get stronger when this is done right.
Are you damaging or sharpening others?
Reading Plan: Psalm 50; Prov. 4; Col. 2:8-23; Luke 6:39-49
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