“And why worry about a speck in
your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew 7: 3
Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey
has been a popular party game for decades. We like to watch our blindfolded friends
figure out where to go and what to do. We expect silly mistakes because we
understand that only those who see clearly can complete the picture correctly. Someone
blindfolded will pin the tail on the nose, the hoof, or miss the target
entirely.
Judging
works the same way. Jesus warned us about the blindfold. As long as we are
blind to our own sin, we cannot see clearly to complete the picture for someone
else. Pride is the blindfold that keeps us from judging rightly. When we take
off the blindfold and deal with our own sin, we can then see clearly to help
others with theirs. For example, we have no right to tell a friend he should
not steal from his employer while we regularly cheat on our income taxes. We
cannot decry homosexual practice while living in heterosexual sin ourselves.
Our friends do have problems. They are sinning and need correction. But they
can’t be helped by someone who has refused to deal with his or her own sin.
Jesus goes on to say, “First get rid of the log in your own
eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye”
(v.
5).
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