Watch Out For That Plank!
Hey this is Carl.
First I want to say, I am so glad Joe McBee is back to his roots at The Peregrin Pages. I only know Joe online from blogging and face book. If I read him right he has a heart for the Lord, and loves his family dearly. You can read more about him by clicking the about link above.
Joe writes from that heart, and doesn’t pull punches. Please make sure to check his writing out. You won't be disappointed
Why am I reposting from his personal blog? Because what he wrote is the heart of what Philter48 is about. Real people dealing with real life, dealing with the garbage we create, by using the Truth of Christ as our filter.
I got really offended on Saturday by the actions of someone I know. The person did something utterly selfish that inconvenienced dozens of people and seemed to show no remorse whatsoever. In fact, the person acted as if they were the victim in it all. It was almost as if they were oblivious to the fact that what they had done was so very wrong. (Image at left from Instonebrewer.com)
That evening, I was driving to a local fast food joint to pick up something for dinner. I have three boys, two of which are teenagers, and they all three eat like horses so the order is always huge. From time to time the poor folks at the restaurant get something wrong. I don’t blame them, it’s an awful lot to remember.
I have gotten into the habit therefore of checking the order in the parking lot. It’s much easier than getting it all home only to make a trip back to get something that was missed.
I pulled forward out of the drive-through lane and into some parking spaces to check the order real quick. A person behind me in line pulled out shortly thereafter just as another car pulled into the parking lot in front of me. There was not enough space between me and the sidewalk for the two cars to pass each other. As I was digging through the bag making sure I had all my cheeseburgers, one of them honked at me.
I was instantly angry. What was their problem? Couldn’t they see I was trying to check my order? Were they just incapable of taking turns making their way through the narrow lane I had created?
In a huff I put my car into gear and went to the other side of the restaurant to finish checking my order. I was angrily doing inventory on the fries when it hit me exactly what I had been doing.
I had been taking up three parking spaces, and a lane of the parking lot. I was causing problems for everyone else and I expected them to just deal with it and if they couldn’t, that was their fault. How incredibly selfish of me, and how incredibly like the person I was so offended with earlier that day.
Ouch. My eye hurts.
I stopped checking sodas and sighed. I then confessed my selfishness as sin. I also confessed my hypocrisy for judging the person with the speck in their eye when I had such a large plank in my own. The problem was that I was so focused on judging the other person I hadn’t noticed that I was guilty of the same sin. Perhaps the selfishness I so easily saw in that person’s life was nothing more than a reflection of the selfishness in my own.
I was grateful that the Holy Spirit had brought me to a place of conviction and repentance in such a gentle way. That was merciful and I didn’t deserve it. Do any of us?
I am also thankful for the mercy that I felt towards the person I had been offended with. How could I judge them when I was guilty of the same sin?
We have to watch out for those planks they really can obstruct our vision.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a 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. (Matthew 7:1 – 5, NIV)
