Galatians 6:1-5
Have you ever looked in the mirror just to look at something behind you? Maybe you notice the pile of dirty laundry sitting on the bed behind you. Or you try to examine your outfit just to see your kid dumping toys all over the floor behind you. See, sometimes instead of focusing on ourselves and our sin, we like to look around and focus on everyone else’s sin first.
Matthew 7:3-5 says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Before we confront a brother or sister in Christ and encourage them to repent of their sin, we must first examine ourselves. Sometimes it’s easy to think our sin isn’t so bad when we’re comparing it to somebody else’s sin. But sin is sin. Disobedience to God is disobedience to God. The humility of the verses in Galatians 6:1-5 is to recognize that we ourselves are not free from sin. If it is easy for us to point out other people’s sin and notice it, that may be that we’re suffering from spiritual pride ourselves. Sometimes it’s easy to wear those rose-colored glasses when we look in the mirror at ourselves and think that we’re just cruising in life.
Humility also breeds in gentleness. When confronting sin in another believer, if pride takes over, harsh judgement is what comes out of us instead of genuine desire to see restitution. We are also never too haughty to carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If you look at someone’s mess and decide that you don’t want to get your hands dirty, so you just leave them in their sin, you’re just as bad! Jesus stepped into people’s mess. He wasn’t afraid of it. He gently, but honestly, confronted people for their sin; out of love for them. I encourage you to take a moment and recognize how you process and act when you see another believer in sin.
Matthew 7:3-5 says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Before we confront a brother or sister in Christ and encourage them to repent of their sin, we must first examine ourselves. Sometimes it’s easy to think our sin isn’t so bad when we’re comparing it to somebody else’s sin. But sin is sin. Disobedience to God is disobedience to God. The humility of the verses in Galatians 6:1-5 is to recognize that we ourselves are not free from sin. If it is easy for us to point out other people’s sin and notice it, that may be that we’re suffering from spiritual pride ourselves. Sometimes it’s easy to wear those rose-colored glasses when we look in the mirror at ourselves and think that we’re just cruising in life.
Humility also breeds in gentleness. When confronting sin in another believer, if pride takes over, harsh judgement is what comes out of us instead of genuine desire to see restitution. We are also never too haughty to carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If you look at someone’s mess and decide that you don’t want to get your hands dirty, so you just leave them in their sin, you’re just as bad! Jesus stepped into people’s mess. He wasn’t afraid of it. He gently, but honestly, confronted people for their sin; out of love for them. I encourage you to take a moment and recognize how you process and act when you see another believer in sin.
Posted in Devotional