This isn’t one of those scriptures that you feel led to put up by your office computer or post on your bathroom mirror so you can read it first thing in the morning is it? It’s a tough love scripture and those are more uncomfortable than they are inspiring, but remain very necessary to our growth as believers.
It is easier to point the finger and play the superiority card when it comes to someone else’s sin because it takes the focus off of our sin and shortcomings. The truth is none of us are exempt from missing the mark and falling short and so are not qualified to sit in judgment of anyone. That’s what made the Pharisees (who Jesus was speaking to) hypocrites. There they were sitting in judgment over people while conveniently overlooking their own sinfulness.
As believers we need to make sure that our relationship with Christ is solid first. It’s like the instructions that we get when we fly on a plane: when the oxygen masks drop down, put your mask on first, before helping any other passenger. It doesn’t diminish or lessen the fact that the other person is in need of assistance but it calls into sharp focus our own need of salvation and grace. It challenges us to make sure that our heart and attitude is right before God before we go and try to “fix” other people. That way when we do offer assistance it will be from a place of humility knowing that we too are imperfect and in need of the grace of God.
by Kalesha Peters
