A Prayer to Check the Plank in My Own Eye
By Lia Girard
Bible Reading
“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 7:3-5
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Don’t you feel so lucky to have the teachings of Jesus readily available to refer to again and again? The way he turns so many things upside down, breaks things down into simple concepts, and brings us down from our high horses never ceases to amaze me.
I love the jarring admonition in Matthew 7:3-5 to take an entire plank out of my own eye. In some biblical versions, it’s even called a log. Can you imagine actually having to do that?
It never fails to reorient me ... real fast.
Whenever I start allowing someone to suck me into a conversation about someone else, or start sizing up another person’s actions, I remind myself that I will always have a giant, splintered board, plank, or log the size of a tree hanging right out of my eye.
It’s instantly humbling. Maybe others can even see it, and I can’t.
Matthew 7, where our prayer verse today appears, is the final chapter of Jesus’ foundational Sermon on the Mount. It opens with “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” And actually, isn’t that a relief? To admit that we’re all wounded, imperfect, and struggling? And that it simply is never up to us, or even possible for us, to judge or condemn?
The truth is, only Jesus can make a righteous judgment. Not you, not I. We see this established throughout the Bible: in James 4:12, 2 Timothy 4:1, Acts 10:42, and other verses. In John 5:22, when religious leaders were incensed by Jesus’ declarations, it is affirmed that all judgment is in Jesus' hands.
I believe Jesus’ admonition to not judge is also clear proof that he alone holds this authority. We can discern whether someone is unsafe for us to be tangled up with, but tearing someone down publicly helps no one. Nor does sugarcoating our own mistakes and pointing out others.
Just as in other biblical chapters—like in John 8, when Jesus receives the adulterous woman and then asks her to “sin no more,”—Jesus isn’t giving sinners a pass here. He isn’t telling us to simply hide our feelings. He’s not just letting us off the hook. In Matthew 7, Jesus asks us to:
stop judging,
pray persistently and seek him,
treat others mercifully following the Golden Rule,
choose the narrow road to eternal life,
avoid false teachers, and
build our lives on the solid rock of his example.
The plank visual that opens this treasure-filled chapter is an arresting lesson to refocus our hearts on the one job Jesus calls us to: to stay humbly and honestly tethered to him and his ways. He’s helping us see that it’s a large and hard enough task for each of us to carry and practice. I’m grateful for this discipline, because judging others is actually a dangerous distraction from making the right choice.
I feel this plank metaphor sheds light on how easy it is to “hop on the bandwagon” when popular crowds or alluring leaders spread judgment and stir up anger or hate. And because we’re all sinners in need of a sinless Savior, it continues to be just as applicable and helpful today, and always, as it was back then.
Let’s Pray
Jesus, thank you for the illogical but jolting image of pulling an entire plank out of my own eye. It hurts just to think of it. Thank you for teaching me that judging a speck in anyone else’s eye is not within my right or ability. I love that you follow up your admonition with an image of kindness. You say that once I take the plank out of my own eye, only then can I clearly see to help someone else.
Jesus, please keep drawing me to you, through the narrow gate, prompting me to show mercy to myself and others, daily. I lay any tendency toward judgment down and commit to aligning my own walk with yours. Thank you for showing us all how to live and love.
In your precious name, Amen.
As parents, we have to judge the actions of our kids. And we live in families, neighborhoods, communities, and churches where we hold each other accountable. So sometimes that requires us to assess the actions of other people. (Especially the little people who live with us.) We have to consider the fruit in people’s lives, as Jesus said to do. And they have to do that with us as well. But in that process, there can be some problems. If not done properly, judging can create wounds in our lives and in the lives of our kids. We want to avoid these pitfalls, so we need to address them head-on.
In this episode, Catherine continues a series on judging by discussing the problems we encounter when it comes to examining the lives of others. If this episode helps you be a more thoughtful Christian, be sure to follow Christian Parent, Crazy World on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
If this episode helps you be a more thoughtful parent, be sure to follow Christian Parent, Crazy World on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
Discuss today’s devotional with others in the Your Daily Prayer thread on the Crosswalk Forum.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Sherman Yang
Story Behind is a Christian podcast sharing true stories of God at work in the lives of ordinary people: from answered prayers and unexpected miracles to everyday heroes, extraordinary courage, and the good news happening in our world today.
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