Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Conflict”
Our Bible verse for today: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5
Our thought for today: “Much conflict could be avoided if we would pay as much attention to our own faults as we do to the faults of others.”
The preacher was on fire. He was worked up, on a roll, and becoming more and more animated. His face was red, he was sweating, his voice was rising, he pounded the pulpit, and I was getting a little concerned about his blood pressure. His subject? Addictions . With passion verging on anger he ranted about the demon alcohol, and he had some things to say about homosexuality, and he mentioned pornography, greed, and a smorgasbord of other sins and vices that people commonly become addicted to. All of them were legitimate concerns and proper subjects for a sermon. But the thing that captured my attention was the fact that the preacher himself was clearly in bondage to the demon of gluttony. He was obviously very addicted to food. His own sin – gluttony – was clearly way out of control. I wondered if he was going to mention anything about that.
He didn’t.
In Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus was not teaching that we should ignore or be unconcerned about the sins other people struggle with. He was simply pointing out that we are all sinners and we all have our own issues, and therefore before we get too enthusiastic about pointing out where other people are going wrong, we need to give some thought to what we have going on in our own lives. Homosexual behavior is a sin; alcoholism is a sin; greed, envy, gossip, and pornography are all sins; and so is gluttony. But our preacher friend didn’t seem to want to talk about that one.
We don’t want to talk about (or even think about) our own sins. No, it’s safer to keep the focus on how we think other people might be falling short. But a critical, complaining, and judgmental spirit is not from God. That comes from Satan and is used by him to create hate, animosity, divisions, and conflict. It’s true that we are to hold each other accountable, and we are to help others see when they have fallen short of God’s standards, but we are to do so with gentleness, and in love and compassion, because we recognize that we too are a sinner saved by grace. Our sin might be a little different from the other person’s sin, but we all do have our own sins.
This short teaching in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount was intended by Jesus to serve as a corrective for the human tendency to be critical of others while ignoring our own faults. The next time you’re tempted to get all worked up about the speck of sin you think you might be seeing in someone else’s life – pause, take a deep breath, and ask the Lord to direct your attention to the log of sin that probably exists in your own life.
There would be a lot fewer conflicts in this world if we would all pay more attention to our own sins, and a little less attention to the faults we think we see in others.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 