Contact lenses. I love wearing them as they definitely improve my ability to see. But then, there are those days, when a minute, almost invisible piece of lint can create discomfort and annoyance.

The undetectable source of discomfort will cause my eyes to tear, blink hard and pinch. I remove the contact, rinse it, put it gently back in place only to realize – it is still there. It isn’t always recognizable or easy to find.

Long before contacts were on the scene, Jesus had a question regarding this same problem …

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye”?
(Matthew 7:3-4, NLT)

{{Ouch}}

So very often the fault we criticize in others is the very shortcoming in our own life. We often exaggerate the faults of others while underestimating our own. We notice the speck in the eyes of others as if using a magnifying glass. And the log in our own eye, we do not even observe it or see in ourselves. We minimize those.

Jesus is not telling us that the speck in our friend’s eye is none of our business. Instead, He is telling us to first correct our own faults. We will never see clearly until we do.

May we be merciful and gracious, less critical. Let’s tend to our own faults and shortcomings. I once read,

“If we had no faults ourselves, we should not take so much delight in noticing those of others.” (Francois duc de La Rochefoucault)
(taken from the Key Word Commentary, page 975)

Logs first.
Then specks.

This is Day 6 of 31 Questions Jesus Asked. You can find the entire series here.

Today I am joining … Testimony Tuesday and Unite and Intentional Tuesday and Reflect and True Story and #RaRaLinkup .