My father in law, never short on humor came up to me at church and was just beaming with excitement. I asked him what could possibly have made him so happy, and he informs me that the church has finally recognized his incredible abilities and had honored him with a picture of himself in the fellowship hall. Needless to say, I was not aware of any such honor, or picture in the fellowship hall. Well Joe insisted that I come see his new picture. When we got to the fellowship hall he proudly shows me the "picture" of himself... which turns out to be a mirror hanging on the wall! He thought it was hillarious... and I have to admit, I got a pretty good laugh out of it myself.
How often do we look in the mirror? I started considering my own daily routine and activities, and I came to the conclusion that I see myself in the mirrow approximately 7 times on any given day. By now you are probably thinking that I have lost my mind.... and that is probably true! But the point I want you to consider right now is this..... when you look in the mirrow...... do you judge yourself with the same criteria, filters, and standards.... as you look at others and judge them?
A good friend of mine posted on facebook today the thought that we spend so much time struggling to remove the spec in someone elses eye, and the reason we struggle is we cannot see around the redwood sized log in our own eye! According to the Word of God, the situation is much more severe than that.... Romans 2:1 puts it this way... "for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same thing-"
Wow, now those are stern words to be careful, lest we bring down condemnation on ourselves! I have come to believe that the best place for me to look.... when I get that urge to "righteously" judge my fellow man..... is to look in the mirror. Let me first judge the man in this "Picture of Honor"..... then there will not be enough time left for me to waste on judging others.
Thanks Vicki for the inspiration.
Living on Purpose!
Pastor Eugene
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