Lesson One: Judge Not? What A Famous Saying!
Devotion #3: Seek Forgiveness First
Stephen Billings
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5
Have you ever said to someone, “You shouldn’t do that,” and then received a response back, “Well, you do that all the time?” Then, go into a quick moment of evaluation before realizing that you are being a hypocrite.
Awkward, right?
In Matthew 7:5, Jesus provides some clear teaching on how to not be a hypocrite. A hypocrite is someone who says they believe or will do one thing, but then does the opposite. It is someone who will talk the talk, but certainly not walk the walk.
Jesus tells us to deal with our own sins first to ensure that we are not being hypocritical when calling out a brother. In this verse, a log in someone’s eye could be any unrepented sin from a bad attitude, lack of respect for fellow Christians, or just blatant disobedience to God. Jesus is teaching us that we cannot call out someone else’s sin if we also have sin in our own life that we have not yet addressed. Not only would it be hypocritical to call someone else while we have sin we have not corrected, but Jesus says that we cannot even see clearly to take the speck out of our brother’s eye. According to Matthew 7:5, we have to come before God with our shortcomings before we can approach others about their shortcomings.
We can take care of these logs in our lives by placing them before God through prayer. The key is asking God to help us see our shortcomings and then seeking forgiveness from Him and from others we may have wronged as needed. In 1 John 1:9, it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When God forgives us, He provides a fresh start for us every time. He casts our sins as far as the east is from the west.
God can forgive us of our sins because He sent His one and only son, Jesus, who came to earth to live a perfect life. Jesus wiped away all of our sins by dying on the cross and rising again three days later, creating a way for us to be forgiven for all our wrongdoings.
Through the work of Jesus on the cross, we are made new; even the biggest of hypocrites will be forgiven.