From the Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
It is no secret that we often suffer from a hidden disease that is usually detected by others before we see it ourselves.
I am talking about a skewed perspective when it comes to our faults versus the faults of others.
The late author and Anglican churchman, John Stott, once said, “We have a fatal tendency to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own.”
Jesus had another way of putting it.
This is what He said in Matthew 7:3 and 5: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
It stands to reason that if we take the Saviour’s advice we will probably not notice the speck of sawdust once our overactive judgmental position is corrected.
It’s like the man who complained that the whole world smelled bad, until he found out that he had limburger cheese in his mustache!
Critical people are hard to be around and we are apt to avoid them at all costs.
Nobody likes some self-proclaimed expert micromanaging your every move.
So, I must ask you, you aren’t one these people, are you?
Before you answer that question you might consider asking someone close to you, like a spouse or best friend if they see a critical spirit in you.
We might let ourselves off the hook too easily in order to worm our way out of a description of ourselves that we don’t like.
A spouse or true friend, however, will be honest with us and tell it like it is.
That’s your challenge for this week.
Ask someone you trust to tell it to you straight.
You may need to do this sitting down!
