It’s been over a month of computer and WINDOWS issues!
What a pain! But I’m back for now.
ON THE LOOKOUT!
Early one morning two days ago, as my wife and I were getting ready to walk, I noticed as she put on her sneakers, a small hole in one of her socks and pointed it out. She knew it and responded with a “Yeah, yeah.” The day went on and half a million things transpired. Some ten hours later, as I was getting ready to shower, I removed one sneaker, and Lo, and behold, my big right toe was poking through my sock!! We looked at each other, high-fived, and laughed!
I said, “WOW, this morning I noticed the small hole on your socks, and now there’s an even larger one on my sock!” Reminded us of God’s word: (Matthew 7:3,5) “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?”
God’s telling us to first check our own standings, our own issues and sins before pointing out others’ problems. As scripture goes on, “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.”
We’re living in a world where people tend to attack others for any reason and then justify it. One important point we were taught in our high school writing/debate class was, “To be a good speaker, one must first be a good listener.” In other words, before debating a person, first listen to their viewpoints, to better defend your own and to know exactly where they stand.
Obviously, not today’s standards where people disrespect others and even attack others for having differing viewpoints. Now, I wasn’t criticizing my wife’s socks, but it became a teachable moment for us both! Lesson? Check your socks before speaking? Nah! Self-examine ourselves before pointing fingers. Thereby avoiding hypocrisy. By the way, that’s one of the purposes of the Lord’s Supper; examining ourselves keeps God from disciplining us.
God Bless!
Sam