Matthew 7:3-5 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and behold a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother’s eye (KJV).
There is what is known as “the mirror of God,” which is used to reveal to us traits that we have through other people. This is where another individual reflects back to us something we don’t like that is in us. Often it is a shortcoming that we are unaware of consciously. It is those faults we are quick to point out that we are ourselves are guilty of. It operates on the same line of not liking those who are the most like us. Why? Because we see our own shortcomings mirrored by the other. It is the very thing that can make us very hypocritical when we point out someone else’ s deficiencies, and have not dealt with our own. One of the ways that the mirror of God can be advantageous is that it can make us aware of something we need to work on or repent of. This calls for humility.
To clearly see to remove the speck from our brother or sister’s eye, we must first deal with our own hypocrisy. We cannot point out another person’s fault while doing the same thing or by walking with a self-righteous attitude. When we focus on another’s fault, we overlook our own, whereby we miss repentance. To clearly see, we ourselves must repent. If we point out a fault in another while maintaining our own (i.e., “you’ve got to deal with that, brother”), we are not speaking or acting in love; we are walking in pride! In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus shows us what that hypocrisy looks like in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee says, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” (Verse11, KJV). Whereas, the publican says, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Verse 13, KJV). Jesus goes on to explain in verse fourteen that “The publican went down to his house justified, rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (KJV). Therefore, before we can help someone else, we need to repent. We must render our own hearts first, so that we may be able to restore another in a spirit of meekness.
Having a mote or beam in our own eye tends to cause us to be faultfinders. Instead of viewing others through love, we can become very critical of them. We are called to speak the truth in love, which means that what we say is intended to benefit the other. Big planks in our own eyes do not allow for that kind of consideration. When we have dealt with our own shortcomings, we are more apt to be compassionate toward another found in a fault. Lets face it, a plank in the eye can be quite painful, and having pain tends to cause one to be less sensitive another –causing one to become inward focused.
Another aspect to this principle that is often overlooked, or not even thought of at all has to with fixing other people. To effectively minister to others, we ourselves need to be ministered to as well. More specifically, to help another person who has need of mental or emotional healing, we need to have our own mind and emotions in the right place. Otherwise, we will continue on to overlook our own need, while “helping” others. Lets put things in perspective: many who are in the helping professions (mental health counselors, nurses, police, and so on -even pastors) are trying to fix themselves by fixing others. They are trying to fulfill a need that can only be met by the Lord, and in the process, fail to receive the healing that they desperately need. The reality is, they are trying to help themselves by fixing others, yet they call it, “helping others.” This is where heroes are born –those who have to save the day. Please understand, not all, but many are in this boat. If we are trying to help ourselves by helping others, our motive is not exactly pure. Please understand; however, that ministering to others can be part of our healing, but it cannot take place of our healing.
It is easier to face someone else’s pain than one’s own, especially on the emotional level. Lets face it, even in the physical sense, it is easier to clean someone’s else’s wound than to have one’s own wound scrubbed. When our own emotions have not been healed, it would be easy to bleed with others, and experience pain on a superficial level, by sympathizing. However, sympathizing alone does not bring solutions to people’s hurt and issues that have caused them. We need to have our own emotions in check, have compassion, and yet be able to speak the truth in love to bring correction when correction is needed. Otherwise, we are ministering through our emotions instead of by the Holy Spirit.
To see clearly we need to repent, where repentance is needed, and we need to allow God to heal us enough to see past ourselves. If we are going to truly help others, we have to get rid of our own stuff!
