“What I’m trying to say is that as individuals, we have thoughts and attitudes that need to be overcome — thoughts of hatred or extreme dislike toward ourselves and other people when instead we should feel dislike toward behaviors. We also have extreme attitudes toward outward appearance that needs to be overcome. If you look at the life of Jesus, you see that he spoke with people about their wrong attitudes toward other people. Attitudes that affect how we treat one another.

One of Jesus’ sayings is very helpful when thinking about our attitude toward other people:” (Praying Our Way Through Stress: Drawing Wisdom from the Lord’s Life and Prayer, page 74: =June G Paul, Westbow Press (c) 2013)

Most of us have seen piles of logs stacked up somewhere. I wonder what it would look like if we all brought a log to church some Sunday morning, or another weekday service, and stacked it outside the door somewhere as a way of saying we want to do this; We want to take the logs out of our eyes and see clearly so we can start to help other people see clearly too.

Far too often we want to start telling other people what to change in their own life without first thinking about our own attitudes or thoughts or behaviors. Criticism can be both good and bad, but if we begin critiquing the lives of other people without critiquing our own we can really make a mess of things.

And of course – the logs in our own eyes typically get in there from our own life experience – from the places we’ve been, from the things we’ve already seen. If we do not get those out of the way, whether good or bad – we cannot see clearly what is happening right now, we can’t see the present scene or what’s coming up ahead. We can only see the past and the only way around it is to get it out of the way.

Here is more food for thought, have you ever had an eyelash stuck in your eye? They are so small and slender that you can hardly see them, but it’s uncomfortable. That eyelash has served it’s purpose, a part of your eye that is no longer ‘alive’ or necessary, but is affecting your level of comfort and ability to see in a negative way. When you are young, you go to someone else who can get it out for you. Then you learn the skill of getting it out yourself. If you get something stuck in your eye you may have to see a professional. If it’s big enough and in their deep enough, surgery might have to take place. It’s the same with our spiritual, mental and emotional sight, there are people who can help us, but the best ones are those who have taken care and are currently taking care of their own spiritual, mental and emotional sight.

When you are looking at other people – what do you really see? Do you see them according to who they are in front of you, or do you see them through the log (the past) in your own eye? There is a story in the bible about a man whose physical sight was restored when Jesus touched his eye with mud and scales fell off. We can ask Jesus to touch our lives so that the scales or scarring of our past fall away and help us to see clearly today so we can truly help other people have their vision restored as well.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, we confess that we are blinded by our own pasts. We have not always sought help in removing the scales and scars that become logs in our eyes, preventing us from seeing the present or looking to the future. Please help us remove the scales and scars of our past that prevent us from seeing clearly what is in front of us today. Please clear our vision so we may truly help other people regain a clear vision for their lives today. And Lord, inspire more people who have clear vision to work in the professions of helping others remove logs, the professions of spiritual, mental and emotional well-being. We ask this for the sake of the building up of more heavenly sighted and minded people on earth and to the glory of your Name. AMEN