About That Log …
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is 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 neighbor’s eye.”
Matthew 7:3-5
I wish that the self-reflection required in the season of Lent was easier. I don’t know about you, but too often, the resulting insight can be painful and humbling especially if the discovered truth of who I am is known and experienced by others. This inevitably leads to a necessary acknowledgment and reconciliation with them.
I wish self-reflection was more like when I recently got a new pair of glasses. The new lens prescription made everything around me sharper and clearer compared to my old pair’s scratched-up lenses.
While the new self-knowledge eventually sheds light and provides helpful insight to live in and through God, there is a certain discomfort of its initial discovery that must first be experienced before the new-found realization can grow to be lived and appreciated.
Why is it that we can see an intrusive speck in our neighbor’s eye yet are unaware of the log or plank in our own eye? Perhaps it is the classical psychological projection: we project onto another our issues, challenges and our pain. Projection is generally an unconscious defense mechanism.
The trouble is, if we cannot recognize those “logs” in our own eyes, we are destined to see them in everyone else’s eyes. If we decide to forego self-reflection or fail to integrate the self-discoveries of our sinfulness, then the reality of the log in our eyes begins to block what we truly can see. And if that is the case, how can we see God’s work in our lives and world?
And how can we be about God’s good work of loving and serving our neighbor if the log is lodged in our eye while we’re busy trying to fish out the speck in our neighbor’s eye?
