I was recently talking with a friend of mine who had been in a snowboarding accident. His face bore the marks of the accident and his eye was still blood red from the ensuing damage. Someone approached who had not heard of his accident and when she saw his face she exclaimed, “What happened?” At this, my friend quipped, “I had to pull a log out of my own eye.”

 

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “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 7:2-5 (NIV)

 

Just the other day I had to pull a log out of my eye and I have to tell you, I would have preferred the damage of the snowy hillside.

After attending a leadership event, I was debriefing with a co-laborer in Christ. We were discussing the ins and outs of ministry and an area of concern in the ministry came up in our discussion. As we were discussing this concern, this blessed co-laborer related a conversation she had with some of the very people with whom I was concerned.

To make a long story short, it turns out that where I had attributed hard-heartedness and lack of concern there was indeed no such thing.

I was called up short because I had mis-judged them. I was thinking they were being hard-hearted and it was my heart that was hard towards them. I was thinking they had no concern for others and yet here I was showing no concern for them. These beloved ones had shared with my co-laborer that the root of their apparent lack of concern was a very real fear and I had judged them for it. I had been the one who was hard of heart.

I truly would have preferred to have fallen on a snowy hillside than to have suffered the pain of dislodging this log from my eye but I have learned a valuable lesson and one that will last me much longer than any lesson learned falling off a snowboard.