READING: Matthew 6:5-7:6, Luke 6:37-42, Matthew 7:7-20, Luke 6:43-45, Matthew 7:21-29, Luke 6:46-49
Today’s a day of confession in response to reading the Word. I shudder to think about how judgmental and legalistic I was as a young preacher and pastor. I was sure I was right about just about everything, and anyone who differed from me was wrong. I regret that I sometimes preached without ever offering any sense of gospel hope.
Following Jesus’ imagery in Matthew 7 and Luke 6, I was a master at identifying the splinters in everybody else’s eye but a failure at recognizing the problems in my own eye. It took stronger believers—that is, those who had recognized and dealt with their own “eye” issues before talking to me about mine—to help me see my sinful attitude. They helped me see the arrogance I refused to see in myself. Most of us, I suspect, are not very good at recognizing our own beams.
Today, I pray I’m evermore willing to hear when others point out beams I somehow don’t see. And, as a pastor and professor, I pray that my dealing first with my own beams helps me to humbly lead others see the splinters in their own eyes.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Who helps you see the splinters or the beams in your eye?
DAILY PRAYER: “Almighty Father, grant me Christian brothers and sisters who help me see my beams. And, help me to hear them.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-17, Matthew 11:1-19, Luke 7:18-35, Matthew 11:20-30, Luke 7:36-50
