First take the plank out of your own eye.
—Matthew 7:5
King David was livid.
The prophet Nathan had told him about the despicable act of a rich rancher. When it came time to set the table for a visiting friend, instead of butchering one of his hundreds of livestock, he climbed the fence and stole the only lamb of his dirt-poor neighbor.
“The man who did this deserves to die!” David roared.
“You are the man!” said Nathan.
David had it all: prestige, power, possessions. But in a sleazy, self-indulgent move, he stole the wife of one of his most loyal soldiers.
The flaws and sins of others are apparent and awful. Ours, not so much; often unrecognized, and if recognized, self-deceptively justified.
We need to forget about that speck of sawdust in what’s-her-name’s eye until we’ve done something about the two-by-four in our own.
If we feel we have no faults,
right there is a big one.