“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-5
Several years ago I was in the interior of Liberia teaching
a group of women Christian principles for living in the home. A few days into the conference a Liberian lady approached me and, in a conspiratorial tone, asked if I would please give a lesson about chewing snuff. Apparently there
was a woman who went to one of the churches represented at the conference who
was known to chew snuff.
I was more than a little amused. Snuff chewing? Really? And it wasn’t the first time I had been asked to teach a lesson against a sin
which few, if any, of the women present were even tempted to commit.
And while much more subtly, I have done something
similar. I have focused a lot of attention on the sins of others while meticulously
avoiding thinking about my own areas of weakness. Like the people hearing Jesus' sermon, I have busily worked to get the speck out of my brother's eye while a plank was sticking out of my own.
I am very thankful for God’s conviction of sin in my life. I never enjoy it, but the end result of true repentance is always sweet. And while I
seriously doubt chewing snuff will ever be an issue for me, if it is, I give my
family and friends permission to confront me. Just do it privately.
See Disqualified!
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