Matthew 7:5
It is just about the easiest thing in the world to notice the speck in your brother's eye. Our hearts of comparison often find it irresistible to mention this speck to him. It is equally easy to stop there, to keep your mouth shut, because doesn't God's word say that there may be a log in your own eye? This is where many of us get gravely off track. Jesus doesn't say to not address the speck in your brother's eye. He simply says to address your own sin first, so that you can help him.
What is the cost to not addressing sin? I think about how sin grows from a tiny little mistake. I wonder if the speck you notice in your brother's eye will end up growing into a log if left unaddressed. I wonder if an equally lazy and uncaring person noticed the speck in your eye, while it was still a speck, before it grew into a log. A church body that is lazy or complicit about discipline and correction will find it much more difficult to deal with the log that once was a speck. All this at the cost of people they are intended to reach.
Comments