This Article is for Me

In Matthew 7:5 Jesus gives us a command: "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye”.

I think it is high time I start taking that literally.

Now before you think I have terrible woodshop safety, understand what I mean by literally. We use that word badly. This passage is figurative language and it is to be understood that way but it’s revealing a very exacting truth we all need to be doing. Before we say anything to another about their faults we need to clean up our own.

Years ago when I read Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends And Influence People, he said, “talk about your own mistakes before you criticize another”. Jordan Peterson sixth rule in his recent book 12 Rules for Life is “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world” It’s the same idea of what Jesus is saying here.

Yet today we just fail to do it. We jump on the attack wagon without regard to what we are dragging along with us. Society is quick to find fault and place blame even if that fault and blame can very easily boomerang right back on them. So what’s the solution?

Take out the log before you set to fix the speck. Spend as much time fixing yourself as you try to fix others. Don’t file a complaint until you are ready to provide a solution. List your own fault before you tally others.

This command has to be for me before I ask anyone else to do it.

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