“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”- Matthew 7:3
In Chapter 6 of Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz perceptively notes that the hurt feeling and injured pride provoked by our woundedness can distort our perspective and focus. As a result, our spiritual eyes become squeezed tightly shut when we choose to repeatedly relive the offenses that wounded us, as Anne describes:
“The memory of one impossible expectation or one infuriating expression, one unfair decision or one unreasonable demand, one injustice or one insult, one wound or one wrong, can bring back to our minds another one and another one until we are smothered in a nasty heap of ugliness that hardens our hearts and embitters our spirit and blinds us to the obvious- our own faults and sin.”
Anne points out that we tend to justify our own behavior while holding our wounders to standards we don’t apply to ourselves. In pointing a finger of blame at someone else, we have three fingers pointing back at ourselves.
So when we focus exclusively on the speck in our wounder’s eye, God will begin to get our attention through a lack of peace in our lives, an agitated spirit, or a dull ache in our hearts. God will gently and lovingly, yet firmly, open our eyes without blame or condemnation.
Today’s question: How has God opened your eyes to your spiritual blind spots? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The eyes of the blind shall be opened”
