Matthew 7:3 on Thursday, December 16, 2015
SCRIPTURE
The memory verses I'm working on right now are Matthew 7:1-6.
Matthew 7:1-6 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
7 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
-- Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
I mostly have Matthew 7:1-5 memorized so far. I'm trying to read it often in my mind and out loud, listen to it and read it in my mind, and listen to it and read it out loud. I find it most helpful.
Now, I'm going to dig further into Matthew 7:3 and try to grasp everything it says. The best way to do this is to look at several versions or translations of the Bible.
Matthew 7:3 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?
-- Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
My initial thoughts and impressions are: Have you ever noticed how easy it is to see a log in someone else's eye, because we turned it into a log, when it is really a speck? We magnify things. We make them bigger than they really are. The worst part is we don't just have a log in our own eye at the time, but have a whole tree.
That tree in our own eye, have we ever thought that the log we think in someone else's eye is really part of the tree in our own eye? Have we realized that what we see is an optical illusion, and we think it's their log, but it's really our tree? And, the truth is, it was just a small speck in their eye all along. It's just easier to criticize others than to look in the mirror. It's easier to condemn someone else's speck than to remove the tree from our own eye.
This is when we need to listen to ourselves, internally and with our ears. Are we building others up or are we tearing them down? If we are tearing people down, is it because we do not want to face the tree in our own eye? Are we scared to face it... or are we just not willing to do the work? Or does it just hurt too much?
No matter why we don't want to face the tree in our own eye, we need to. We will never fully heal, never fully live until we do. And, when we do deal with our stuff, with that tree, log, and speck in our own eye, then we will see things a whole lot differently. We won't need to judge, or be harsh, because we can fully see and fully live. Finally.
How do we deal with the tree, log, or speck in our own eye? By savoring the Bible. Pure and simple. That's it. And that's everything.
Get in the Word... and stay there!
It really is the answer.
Matthew 7:3 New Living Translation (NLT)
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
-- New Living Translation (NLT). Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
If we truly counted someone a friend, we would love them as they were and would never hold that against them. We would love them through it and in spite. (See 1 Corinthians 13.)
Matthew 7:3 Expanded Bible (EXB)
3 “Why do you notice the ·little piece of dust [speck; tiny splinter] in your ·friend’s [L brother’s (or sister’s)] eye, but you don’t ·notice [consider] the ·big piece of wood [log; plank; beam] in your own eye?
-- Expanded Bible (EXB). The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Face the truth. You have a log at times. Deal with it. Don't let it dwell. Deal with it head-on so it doesn't deal with you any more than it already has.
That's what I get out of this verse.
Matthew 7:3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
-- New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Love your friend. Love your brother. Do not put conditions on that love. If you put conditions on that love, then you don't really love at all. If you were to really love them, you would never see the speck in their eye and you would face the tree in your own eye and would cut that baby down once and for all so you could love your brother or friend all the more... and so you could live fully.
Ouch. Every time I said "you" it was me speaking to myself and I reminded myself of these truths. I was not addressing you, my fellow journey traveller.
Focus on savoring the Bible instead. This is the answer to everything.
OBSERVATION
See the above.
APPLICATION
See the above.
Savor the Bible rather than judge and rather than seeing fault in another. If I am truly savoring the Bible, I would not have time to be harsh with another.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for Matthew 7. Thank You in particular for Matthew 7:1-3 since I have just studied them.
Help me to savor the Bible morning, noon, and night, and not ever allow anything or anyone to get in the way of that.
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