May 22,
2003
YOUR
BROTHER'S EYE, Part II
"Why
do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not
consider the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3, NKJV).
"The
sin that leads to the most unhappy results is the cold, critical,
unforgiving spirit that characterizes Pharisaism. When the
religious experience is devoid of love, Jesus is not there;
the sunshine of His presence is not there. No busy activity
or Christless zeal can supply the lack. There may be a wonderful
keenness of perception to discover the defects of others;
but to everyone who indulges this spirit, Jesus says, 'Hypocrite!
First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will
see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye' (Matthew
7:5). He who is guilty of wrong is the first to suspect wrong.
By condemning another he is trying to conceal or excuse the
evil of his own heart. It was through sin that men gained
the knowledge of evil; no sooner had the first pair sinned
than they began to accuse each other; and this is what human
nature will inevitably do when uncontrolled by the grace of
Christ.
"When
men indulge this accusing spirit, they are not satisfied with
pointing out what they suppose to be a defect in their brother.
If milder means fail of making him do what they think ought
to be done, they will resort to compulsion. Just as far as
lies in their power they will force men to comply with their
ideas of what is right. This is what the Jews did in the days
of Christ and what the church has done ever since whenever
she has lost the grace of Christ. Finding herself destitute
of the power of love, she has reached out for the strong arm
of the state to enforce her dogmas and execute her decrees.
Here is the secret of all religious laws that have ever been
enacted, and the secret of all persecution from the days of
Abel to our own time.
"Christ
does not drive but draws men to Him. The only compulsion which
He employs is the constraint of love. When the church begins
to seek for the support of secular power, it is evident that
she is devoid of the power of Christ--the constraint of divine
love.
"But
the difficulty lies with the individual members of the church,
and it is here that the cure must be wrought. Jesus bids the
accuser first cast the beam out of his own eye, renounce his
censorious spirit, confess and forsake his own sin, before
trying to correct others. For 'a good
tree does not bear bad fruit; nor does a bad tree bear good
fruit' (Luke 6:43). This accusing spirit which you
indulge is evil fruit, and shows that the tree is evil. It
is useless for you to build yourselves up in self-righteousness.
What you need is a change of heart. You must have this experience
before you are fitted to correct others; for 'out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks' (Matthew
12:34).--Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessing, pp.,
126, 127.
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