"What's that in your eye?"--For those who have FRACTURED RELATIONSHIPS... Please Read On

This morning I read my devotion for the day and I have to say it really hit home. I have experienced a fractured relationship and God has really shown me over the last few years, the condition of my own heart. It wasn't very pretty. I felt that because I had been hurt by someone repeatedly over the course of my life, I had the right to be bitter, resentful, and even tell others about how I had been wronged and had had enough.  

Well, God has shown me that I needed to take responsiblilty for the way I respond to the offense. "What's that in your eye?"  I also needed to love this person the way He loves this person. I have prayed for that for for years, that I would love this child of God the way that He loves His child....flaws and all. After all, if I look at my own heart, I will find some not so pretty stuff in there too. And guess what?  God loves me despite it all!  That's AMAZING grace, right there.  What if we loved others like that?  Lord, change the attitude of my heart.

We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. ALL, not some. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.  So, with all of that said, I am sharing the devotion I read this morning...

Speck Work (Taken from The Quiet Place-Daily Devotional Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is a big log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your own brother's eye." ~Matthew 7:4-5

OFTEN, AFTER ENDURING THE UNDESERVED PAIN OF another's sin against us, we (the offended) become theoffender in the way we respond to the original or ongoing injustice.  So even though we may have done little or nothing to provoke what first happened, we have now added our own sin into the mix.  And it is our own sin that we must deal with first.

In this familiar passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasized the importance of dealing with our own sin before trying to deal with others' failures.  This isn't to minimize what our "brother" may have done but rather to affirm that it's hard to be objective about his sin when we've got a beam in our own eye.  It's hard to help him deal with his own issue--not to mention hypocritical on our part--if we haven't confessed our own sin, even if it was a reaction to his sin in the first place.

So, be honest: Has someone else's sin begotten sin in your own life?  Then confess it--to them, if possible and appropriate.  Not in a way that excuses you, not in a way that blames them for pushing you to it, not in a way that leads you into even more sin by stirring up your anger against them,  Take full responsibility for your own sin.

"But I'm only 5 percent responsible for this whole thing!"  Then assume 100 percent responsibility for your 5 percent.  Humble yourself.  Clear your conscience.  Seek forgiveness.  Then let God use you to minister grace to your brother in need.

Do you have a fractured relationship with another person?  Is it possible that you have been overlooking your share of the blame--just as you feel the other person has done?  What might an honest evaluation expose in your own heart?