“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” Matthew 7:4 (NLT)
If you had a board sticking out of your eye, how effective would you be at removing a speck of dust from a friend’s eye? Crazy thought, but that’s the image Jesus paints in our verse today.
Actually, we do this all the time when it comes to helping others with issues of the heart.
We like to think that we can help people fix their flaws, but we’re completely unequipped to do so. In fact, some people seem to think that fixing others is their God-given calling and they’re always pointing out people’s shortcomings.
However, we can’t reach into the heart of an individual and change them. We just don’t have that ability. We can help them in other areas, such as learning God’s principles, but we can’t sort through their deepest beliefs. Only God’s Word can do that.
Hebrews 4:12 (AMPC) says that God’s Word is “sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.” His Word can do what you can’t.
Nagging and faultfinding will only cause your loved ones to close their hearts to you. You help them the most when you love them. You can also be a good model by spending time in God’s Word with Holy Spirit.
Reading and meditating on God’s Word helps us to be all we can be. It also helps us to see how unconditionally loved we are, shortcomings and all.
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