Devotions

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ...You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3,5 (ESV)

There is something in our human nature that wants to judge others. However, Jesus commands us who follow Him to have a different focus than “the speck that is in [our] brother’s eye.”

Our loving Lord commands us to focus first upon our own sins. When we do this, as it turns out, our own sins never seem to end. They are new every morning. But so are the mercies of God (Lam. 3:22-23), and that is the grace-filled Good News of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

As the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we have great sin in our own lives, we may try to cleanse ourselves so that we become acceptable in God’s sight. But the sad truth is that no sinner is capable of achieving this goal. Apart from God’s grace, we can never be put right in His sight.

I like this observation made by Dane C. Ortlund: “It is the most counter-intuitive aspect of Christianity, that we are declared right with God not once we begin to get our act together but once we collapse into honest acknowledgment that we never will.” (Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers)

Getting our act together or thinking that others should as well is not the goal that God wants us to aim for in our daily lives. What does He desire of us? That we live in repentance, trusting that His Gospel grace is what puts and keeps us sinners right in His sight.

By the grace of God, as you and I receive and enjoy His forgiveness of our confessed sins, He may work through us to share that same grace-filled forgiveness with those whose lives touch ours.

Ask God this day to remind you of and fill your heart with His grace.