Day Two Matthew 7:3-5
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 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.” – Matthew 7:3-5 (NLT)
Learn From the Word
Once again Jesus isn’t saying we should never make a judgment call in a situation or about a person, but He’s telling us to first examine our own lives. We're living as hypocrites if we're constantly calling out sin in the lives of others while never performing a thorough heart check on ourselves. It's only when we’ve done the hard work of cutting out sin in our own lives that our hearts are soft enough to help a fellow brother or sister facing a similar issue.
Put It Into Practice
Yesterday’s “put it into practice” exercise involved confessing to God the ways you've judged others wrongly. Spend some time now asking Him if you need to confess to a specific person. Ask Him to make you more aware of your own sin than the sins of others. Ask Him to soften your heart as only He can do so that you'll be able to remove your log before compassionately helping someone else with their speck.
For Families with Kids at Home
Oftentimes it’s easier to see when others are wrong than to see when we are wrong. When others do something wrong or treat us poorly, we tell ourselves it’s because they’re a bad person or they’re being mean. When we do the same things, we always have a good excuse.
Ask your kids: are there things you did this week that might have hurt someone? Instead of making excuses or telling ourselves it wasn’t that bad, ask whether that person deserves an apology.