Thursday, November 7, 2013

Thinking about the Mote and the Beam

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And again, ye shall say unto them, Why is it that thou beholdest the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
5  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and canst not behold a beam in thine own eye? (JST Matthew 7:4-5)
I think it is interesting that Jesus asked “WHY is it that thou beholdest the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”   It kind of shows how silly it is to notice someone else’s faults instead of one’s own.  I think Jesus implies that the proper response should be to allow our notice of others’ faults act as an indicator to us that the very same ones exist in us.  (As the saying goes, “It takes one to know one.”)  I don’t think this is meant just to quell fault-finding with others, but also as a call to repentance of the “beam” issues. 

We usually don’t have an idea of how our bad behavior makes others feel, so to see someone else acting the same way and to suffer from it can be a helpful call to repentance.  

I had an experience last week when I thought my husband was selfish.  I called him on it and in the ensuing discussion was brought to the realization that I had been much worse. 

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