The Log and the Speck
Matthew 7:3
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
In a short conversation with a friend on Facebook about what gets Christians fired up or offended, it dawned on me that I think we have a big problem with what we consider a log and what we consider a speck. For example, sins such as homosexuality, abortion, murder, etc are often big ones that get a lot of attention. They are the logs in people's eyes that are easily discerned. When someone is in a relationship with someone from the same sex...log alert. When someone has an abortion...log alert. When someone is killed by someone or there is a mass shooting..log alert. Cue the Facebook posts because something has to change.
Meanwhile, the more commonplace, widespread sins are considered specks that are often overlooked because they are less discernible. Let's take greed. How do you know if someone is greedy? Or materialism. How do you know when someone's earthly possessions are becoming their treasure? Or gluttony. Or pride. Or lust. Or laziness. Or hatred. Or selfishness. All of these sins are less measurable. They are not black and white like a homosexual relationship, an abortion, or a murder. In fact, we probably all do these sins. So since these are so widespread and commonplace and also personal, we often consider these sins specks. In fact, there is always someone way worse than us at these, so our sin probably isn't that bad or may not even be at the point of being sinful in our own minds.
But what would the world look like if all of these speck sins were flipped and considered logs and the logs were considered specks? What if greed got us Christians fired up and offended? What if we tried to stay away from greed at all costs? And went out of our way to live simply in order to avoid materialism. What if we instead shared our possessions and tried to only eat what we needed so that starving people could have food? What if pride was such a big log that we used every breath and effort to lift others up and consider others more than ourselves? What if even the hint of lust was something we tried to run from? What if we were so scared of hatred that we were able to forgive even our enemies?
What would that kind of world look like if Christians flipped the script and cared more about the less easily discernible sins? I think all of a sudden we would see a world where we see less people starving, less people living in poverty, less broken families and orphans, less abortions, less murders, less sexual abuse, less racism, etc. In fact, oftentimes I think the causes of the logs as we currently know them would go away in a world where we care more about the specks. Jesus summed it all up in two commandments. Basically, love God and love others. What if we put love up on a pedestal and were offended at anything that did not look like love? No matter how widespread or commonplace it is. Like maybe greed, materialism, lust, laziness, hatred, etc. All those real logs that all of us have. Another thing I see lately that seems to get people fired up is fear. Fear of terrorists, fear of immigrants, fear of police, fear of guns, etc, etc etc. My guess is those all go away too. For there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) So lets do it. Lets flip the script. Instead of focusing on the logs and things we fear, lets focus on love and all those seemingly mundane, little specks that are blinding us all.
But especially on this Good Friday, let's remember what this love looks like that enters the death, darkness, and bondage of this world and provides life, light, and freedom. This love does not look anything like comfort and convenience that our culture aspires to. The giving of yourself is going to be hard. Its going to cost a lot. Focusing on ridding ourselves of the logs such as greed or selfishness will definitely be hard. It can change the world. But the road will be difficult. Just ask Jesus.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
In a short conversation with a friend on Facebook about what gets Christians fired up or offended, it dawned on me that I think we have a big problem with what we consider a log and what we consider a speck. For example, sins such as homosexuality, abortion, murder, etc are often big ones that get a lot of attention. They are the logs in people's eyes that are easily discerned. When someone is in a relationship with someone from the same sex...log alert. When someone has an abortion...log alert. When someone is killed by someone or there is a mass shooting..log alert. Cue the Facebook posts because something has to change.
Meanwhile, the more commonplace, widespread sins are considered specks that are often overlooked because they are less discernible. Let's take greed. How do you know if someone is greedy? Or materialism. How do you know when someone's earthly possessions are becoming their treasure? Or gluttony. Or pride. Or lust. Or laziness. Or hatred. Or selfishness. All of these sins are less measurable. They are not black and white like a homosexual relationship, an abortion, or a murder. In fact, we probably all do these sins. So since these are so widespread and commonplace and also personal, we often consider these sins specks. In fact, there is always someone way worse than us at these, so our sin probably isn't that bad or may not even be at the point of being sinful in our own minds.
But what would the world look like if all of these speck sins were flipped and considered logs and the logs were considered specks? What if greed got us Christians fired up and offended? What if we tried to stay away from greed at all costs? And went out of our way to live simply in order to avoid materialism. What if we instead shared our possessions and tried to only eat what we needed so that starving people could have food? What if pride was such a big log that we used every breath and effort to lift others up and consider others more than ourselves? What if even the hint of lust was something we tried to run from? What if we were so scared of hatred that we were able to forgive even our enemies?
What would that kind of world look like if Christians flipped the script and cared more about the less easily discernible sins? I think all of a sudden we would see a world where we see less people starving, less people living in poverty, less broken families and orphans, less abortions, less murders, less sexual abuse, less racism, etc. In fact, oftentimes I think the causes of the logs as we currently know them would go away in a world where we care more about the specks. Jesus summed it all up in two commandments. Basically, love God and love others. What if we put love up on a pedestal and were offended at anything that did not look like love? No matter how widespread or commonplace it is. Like maybe greed, materialism, lust, laziness, hatred, etc. All those real logs that all of us have. Another thing I see lately that seems to get people fired up is fear. Fear of terrorists, fear of immigrants, fear of police, fear of guns, etc, etc etc. My guess is those all go away too. For there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) So lets do it. Lets flip the script. Instead of focusing on the logs and things we fear, lets focus on love and all those seemingly mundane, little specks that are blinding us all.
But especially on this Good Friday, let's remember what this love looks like that enters the death, darkness, and bondage of this world and provides life, light, and freedom. This love does not look anything like comfort and convenience that our culture aspires to. The giving of yourself is going to be hard. Its going to cost a lot. Focusing on ridding ourselves of the logs such as greed or selfishness will definitely be hard. It can change the world. But the road will be difficult. Just ask Jesus.
posted by D Love at 12:06 PM
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