February 16, 2000

GREAT QUESTIONS OF THE BIBLE:
"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye?"
Luke 6:41

___This question posed by Jesus certainly must have gained the immediate attention of all his listeners. His insight to the thoughts and the attitude of people in every walk of life surely must have startled them. How did he know they were critical and judgmental toward others? How could he see what was in their hearts?
___The visual image of this question must have been humorous to those who heard Jesus ask it. Can you imagine a guy with a huge log sticking out of his own eye offering to help another fellow remove a sawdust particle from his eye? It really is laughable. And as Jesus

B.F. RISINGER Pastor, First Baptist Church, Corsicana

pointed out the ridiculousness of this scenario, his hearers must have immediately seen themselves and reacted--either with shamefacedness or denial.
___But the question is: Why do we look at other people's "specks"?
___Frankly, all of us are "observers of the human condition" and we find ourselves noticing things about those about us who are different from ourselves. We notice they dress differently, eat foods that are unusual, have strange accents, paint their houses odd colors, spend money on useless "stuff," and on and on it goes. But more than being critical of all of these outward things, we find those whom we know rather well who are "different" because they make poor choices in mates, lack good grammar skills, fail to control their children as we think they should, ignore the proper social etiquette and drive a bigger car than they can really afford (so we feel!). Because they put a parent in a nursing home or allowed a young child to go somewhere on his own or spent money on frivolous things, we may conclude we know better than they what they should be doing.
___Interestingly enough, we may not be able to "see the whole picture." There could be reasons beyond our knowledge that caused that person to put a parent in a nursing home or buy what we would consider "frivolous" for a very good purpose.
___The reason we look down on such folks is that it makes us feel superior, and all the while we may be harboring in our hearts worse thoughts and involving our lives in more hurtful activities than are they.
___I chuckled when I read about the colonel who was a stickler for detail. When he inspected the troops, he paid particular attention to their uniforms. One time, he noticed a junior airman had overlooked something. Immediately he took the young man to task.
___"Airman," he yelled, "what do you do when a shirt pocket is unbuttoned?" Taken aback the airman gulped and said, "Button it, sir!" Getting no further response, the colonel said, "Well?" After a moment, the airman gingerly reached over and buttoned the colonel's shirt pocket (Reader's Digest, Sept. 1997).
___We tend to think our vision of others' faults and shortcomings is 20-20. But as Jesus so clearly pointed out, we really may be overlooking the huge problem in our own experience.
___May our Lord enable us to view with compassion and reserve the "specks" in our brother's life--and carefully scrutinize our own foibles lest we become the character with the "log in his eye"!




Previous Columns: 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20 10/27, 11/17, 11/24, 12/1,12/15, 12/1,1/5, 1/12. 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9.

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