I read a story about one of the powerful figures in Wall Street who fell in love with an actress. For many months he was always seen escorting her about in the fashionable circles of town. Deciding to marry her, he first put a private detective to the job of looking into her former dealings and friends in order to guard himself against any rash mistake. At last he received his agent’s report. “Miss Blank enjoys an excellent reputation. Her past is spotless. Her associates have been above reproach. The only breath of scandal is that, in recent months, she has been much seen in the company of a business man of doubtful reputation.”
In Luke 6, Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders with the "log in their eye"...they personify that problem...a problem that Jesus was speaking to...they were proclaiming the law and trying to make sure others observed it...by control and manipulation. Could that be our problem as well...that we are not able to live up to our own spiritual demands...so we judge others by what we know is right but not actually living it ourselves? That was the case with the scribes and Pharisees, they were "concerned" and on a mission to let everyone else know just how pitiful they were. Jesus warns us that we must be careful or we will be guilty of taking on this same kind of judgmental attitude—this same kind of spiritual pride. We cannot see our own spiritual lack when our vision is blocked...it becomes the "blind leading the blind"...hard to see with a log in your eye. Like the Wallstreet tycoon, when judging by our own righteousness, we are pointing a spotlight on our own lack and sin. Once God operates on the eye and removes the "log", we can truly begin to care about others and see their value...that little speck you once saw in another, just may disappear. Luke 6:37-49 Judging Others37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. A Tree and Its Fruit43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. The Wise and Foolish Builders46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
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AuthorThe Pastors of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church Archives
July 2017
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