A Bad Case of Plank in the Eye

Matthew 7:3 (New International Version)
3"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?

It happened a few days ago--someone shared something another person did that was questionable and it lodged in my brain and would not go away.

I'm ashamed to admit how easily I fell for the age old ploy of the enemy, but I did. I dwelt on the fault of another; ruminating over it and shaking my head at it. And as I did, I noticed a pall falling over my heart; a distance growing between me and God.

I couldn't stand the horrible feeling of being out of sync with him for long and I had to figure out what was causing it. It didn't take long to trace the feeling to its cause: a case of Plank in the Eye!

Suddenly I felt like such a Pharisee; those religious leaders of Jesus's time. They looked so good on the outside but inside Jesus said they were full of dead man's bones and everything unclean. No one would know that beneath my smiling exterior, the stench of self righteousness was rotting away at my gut. The Pharisees loved to point the finger and gather their religious robes around them in horror at the sins of others. They are the last people I want to be like, but oh, how easy it is to slip into their shoes.

No wonder Jesus used the metaphor of a plank in the eye to describe judgementalism. A plank in the eye is pretty blinding.

So this morning I repented heartily. I thought of that old gospel song, Standing in the Need of Prayer, and I heard it differently this time. It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer
Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer

It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer
It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer

Not the preacher, not the sinner, but it's me oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer
Not the preacher, not the sinner, but it's me oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer

It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer
It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord
Standing in the need of prayer

Matthew 23:27 (New International Version)
27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

Comments

Julie said…
Belinda, that hymn was going around this weekend. I supplied at Simoce 7 on Saturday and you could hear myself and a resident of the house singing this one out loud.
7:53 AM
Susan said…
I opened up my Bible this morning and my scheduled reading was Matthew 7. Yes, that's the chapter that starts out "Judge not or you too will be judged..." and then goes into the plank in the eye thing. God must be trying to tell me you're on to something. Because that seems to be on His agenda in my life, too. :)
2:57 PM
Belinda said…
Wow, Julie. That hymn is so old that I'm amazed that God brought it out of the trunk in two different places this weekend! :)

And Susan, I'm so glad I'm not alone. :)
5:55 PM
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