Plank Filled Eye

Matthew 7:3 says "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?"

I've heard this verse a million times and Chris August's new song has a line in it that strikes me every time I hear it, "from the painted sky to my plank filled eye, He is God of all, He is everything."  The heart of it is that we as Christians are not to judge others.  It sounds so easy huh? But our humanity doesn't allow it to be easy.  We want to look at others around us and say you're doing this, that or the other when we're doing it ourselves.  It's human to want to deflect blame or point fingers so others don't see who we truly are.    It amazes me that as Christians we want to turn a finger on someone and we forget the old adage, 3 are pointing right back at us.  Sometimes the cause is fear.  What if someone gets close enough to me to discern my internal sins?  Or worse catches on to what I'm doing externally.  Sometimes it's just flat out Satan knowing that the best way to hurt the other person is with judgement. His favorite thing is to isolate us so he can pick us off.   How many times have we heard that someone is doing this that or so and we don't approach, and worse we distance ourselves?  How often are these not true or half true? When the proper response is to pray that God will convict that person in what they are doing or to approach and ask an honest question. I certainly prefer the former, less conflict in that, but that of course is my humanity speaking. 

I've held onto the idea that I don't care what others think about me because no matter what I do they are going to think what they want to think, but honestly it still hurts when I hear something not true or someone makes an assumption and doesn't ask me.  I learned a very painful truth during my divorce, that some people would rather place blame and make assumptions, than love and show the love of Christ.

I try to live by what my Grandpa Vaughan taught me, love others in spite of themselves, show them Jesus by your actions, let them see a difference, and that will be what leads them to the cross.  I apologize to those that I have judged, I cannot promise it won't happen again, but I can promise that I will try to do better.  I'm just a sinner saved by grace trying to strive to be like the Jesus that I serve.  That is the mercy of Grace.