Matthew 7:3
New International Version (NIV)
“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?
Today, in church, I was lucky enough to hear a sermon on my favorite passage of the new testament. Most of you have probably read John 8:3-11, but for those of you who haven't, here it is:
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
I don't know if any of you have noticed, but Christianity has a pretty bad rap for carrying around metaphorical stones. When we see people doing something wrong, we want to call them out on it. We're eager to "throw stones" at them, because that takes the focus off of us and the things that we do wrong. Unfortunately, this is a habit that the Bible tells us to avoid at all costs. We are called over and over again to "drop our stones" or "remove the plank in our own eye" before we can even see the speck of sawdust in our neighbors' eyes.
The other day, I went to this big Christian concert called Winter Jam. During the concert, there was a speaker who talked about how we need to "reset" and "recharge." I'll explain what he means by recharging in another entry, but first, we have to reset. We have to drop our stones and remove our planks. Before we can get close to God, we need to take a moment to see what we're doing wrong in our own lives, and simply let God take that burden away. Start from a clean slate. Being a Christian doesn't mean that you're an expert at telling everyone else which sins they need to stop. Instead, work on your own faith journey; focus on your own weaknesses and how God can turn those into strengths.
When we initially drop our stones, we may feel a little vulnerable. We're unarmed. We're admitting that we don't have room to judge anyone, because we are all just as guilty of one sin or another. But it's a step forward on our faith journey. God can help us remove that uncomfortable plank in our eyes, but we first have to stop condemning others for the specks in theirs.
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