He stood in the street, ready. He glared his opponent down as his eyes naturally squinted in the sun. Every muscle tightned as a tumbleweed blew by kicking up some dust. The town was hushed as he began to speak. The old man's voice was raspy and deep. His swarthy complexion mixed with the wrinkles in his face made his skin appear as finely aged leather. His brows furrowed under the brim of his broad hat as he passed judgement on his fellow man. The problem was, he was no judge...he was Ol' Oak Eye. The legend of his deeds traveled far and wide as he would reduce someone to a pile of rubble in their soul. He was a joy taker, and a coward. He felt he could do no wrong, yet he saw the wrong everyone else did. For he was Ol' Oak Eye.
As a Christian, I would say that I am not the only one who fails at judging not, and fall prey to the beam in the eye when inspecting someone else's problems. I am guilty. I am sure that this is unfortunately a systemic problem in our modern church.
Perhaps you are thinking, "No, not our church!" Well, my answer to that is simple. 1.) You don't know the heart of every member, only God can do that.
2.) Even if you think it in your heart, you are guilty.
As a parent, I find this is a hard balance. I try to instruct my children in the Way, and find that I fall short myself more often than not. If I notice, I try to apologize to them and admit that I am not perfect. (I am not...definitely not.)
So, in Matthew 7, Jesus tells us how to deal with "Ol' Oak Eye".
The basic premise is get your own house in order first. Then help others with theirs.
That being said, how is your house?
Can you see past your beam?
Don't pull a splinter, until you take care of your tree!
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