There are a lot of upsides to using a woodstove to heat your house: warmth no matter the weather or availability of electricity. But, one of the downsides of handling all that wood is splinters. Even using gloves, there is the possibility of getting a small splinter. It’s not the large ones that are hard to find. It’s the hair-like ones that are so difficult to see. As my eyesight is no longer as sharp as it was, I have often asked Karen to don the magnifying headgear to remove one of these small splinters in my hand or to pull out an eyelash in my eye.
In my many visits to people in the hospital, there is one thing I’ve never encountered — a blind surgeon. No one would ever agree “to go under the knife” of such a physician. Yet, Jesus witnessed that people who are blind to their own sin will often point out the sin in others. It’s like a drunk boozing it up and telling the guy next to him how to remain sober.
Jesus said, “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.” (Matthew 7:3–5)
The above is one set of verses that every spouse or parent should memorize. When someone bugs us, instead of counting to ten before opening our mouths, we should quote these verses to ourselves. If we did this, there would be fewer times that we wished we could take back some words. I am nowhere near perfect in this regard, but since I accepted Jesus into my life, He has helped me to consider my own “splinters” before pointing out those of others.
It doesn’t take much getting in an eye to make it nearly impossible to open it. A small amount of dust or some other object is enough to momentarily blind us. People have a tendency to overlook their own sins, while proudly pointing out the faults of someone else. It’s a mistake for parents to chew out their kids for things the parent is guilty of doing. Children can spot hypocrisy a mile away. Also, one spouse can get on the case of the other one as though they don’t have their own set of similar faults.
This isn’t to say that we are never to point out the sins of others. Rather, we are to clean up our own life first. Then we can see more clearly how to help someone else escape sin’s clutches. And that’s the point: we are not simply to spot a splinter in someone’s hand or an eyelash in their eye, but to help them remove it so they can see better.
How has a relationship with Jesus helped me in this? Instead of thinking I am better than others, I realize that I am also a flawed sinner, like the rest of mankind. I also realize that God made my spouse and children with a different personality than me. Therefore, before I say something, I need to check my life first. Those three verses have helped me to avoid saying something that I wish I could take back.
If you haven’t yet submitted your will to Jesus as your Savior and Master, don’t keep putting Him off.
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