There’s a Plank in Your Eye
This morning, I was about ready to spend some quiet time in the word when my app offered me a podcast devotion. Now, I grew up way before podcasts and even though I know they exist, I’ve never been drawn to them. Today, I decided, what the heck.
The podcast was on the parable of the log in your eye…
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 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? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 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. “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” - Matthew 7:1-6 ESV
It was a great video podcast, but I started thinking of how I may have (ok, definitely have) fallen short on applying this lesson to my life. This lead me to Sunday’s sermon where Pastor Patrick was espousing from Mark where Jesus told the disciples that he was going to be crucified and arise from the dead. However, Patrick focused on the lessons Jesus gave to the disciples after he foretold his crucifixion and resurrection.
“And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:42-45 ESV
Have you ever tried to elevate your own standing by putting a competitor down?
There was a monthly meeting between Marketing and Finance (called The Marketing Finance Meeting of all things). It was a chance for us to talk and share what we were seeing or assuming. The Finance Division had a few Departments that made it up. In one of these meetings, the head of a different department asked questions in front of Marketing clearly meant to get my department to showcase some challenges that we hadn’t yet addressed. When we got back to the office (we were in a different building than our workplace), I took this other Finance department head aside and told him quite clearly that we were in the same family (the Finance Division) and if he ever tried to embarrass me like that again, I would air his dirty laundry and bury him without restraint. He became one of my biggest allies after that.
Patrick is absolutely correct that Jesus calls us to a different life than the world expects. The world (at least the business world), expects that backstabbing self-serving activity (as long as the business profits in the process).
While this might be a blatant example of where most people would say “that’s not right”, there are lots of more devious examples where backhanded comments were shared with the intent of making the other person look less good and therefore, yourself better. There were peers of mine that were far better at that than I was. You’d think I’d be proud of that, but I was always envious of their business power savvy. For that, I’m ashamed.
