Week 74 Bible Reading: Matthew 7:3–5

And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own - Matthew 7:3

You’re having the most amazing day at school until . . .

. . . you waltz into the bathroom and glance at yourself in the mirror. To your horror, you discover a huge piece of spinach wrapped around your front teeth.

Since eating that spinach at lunchtime—all through your history class, study hall, and band practice—you’ve been parading around with this ginormous piece of spinach in your teeth, for everyone to see.

This isn’t a true story. How often, though, do we tear apart the tiniest flaws in others? Meanwhile, we don’t see our own bigger issues—problems that everyone else can clearly see. It’s kind of like having spinach in our teeth.

That’s why Jesus tells us to deal with our own problems before criticizing anyone else. He says, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? . . . 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” (Matthew 7:3, 5).

Before finding fault in someone else, let’s fix ourselves.

Jesus, help me build up and encourage others instead of tearing them down and criticizing them. No one is perfect—including me! Please give me a humble heart.