And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

(Matthew 7:3–5 NIV)

The teacher asked Johnny, “Where’s your homework?”

“Sorry,” said Johnny, “I couldn’t do it.  There was too much noise at home.”

“Noise?  What kind of noise?” 

“It was the television. It was just too loud.”

“Johnny, surely you could have asked them to turn the sound down?”

“No, I couldn’t. There was no one else in the room!”

It’s a familiar story.  Like Johnny, we often find it easier to place the blame somewhere else. When something is left undone — whether at home, at work, or in the church — we’re quick to point to circumstances, other people, or outside forces.  Rarely do we stop and admit: maybe the real problem is me.

The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives. We say things like, “The church should visit the sick more.” “The church should do more evangelism.” “The church should be more active in this or that ministry.”  And while those may be true observations, they often come with an unspoken assumption: someone else should be doing it.

Jesus knew this tendency all too well. That’s why he warned against it in the Sermon on the Mount.  His point wasn’t that we should never offer help or suggest improvements.  His point was that correction must begin with self-awareness. Before we call out the speck in someone else’s eye, we need to acknowledge the plank in our own. Before we diagnose what the church isn’t doing, we need to ask ourselves: Am I doing what I could be doing?

The church is us.  When we say “the church should,” we’re really saying we should. And more personally — I should.  Blame is easy.  Self-examination is hard.  But that’s where spiritual growth begins.

So, if the TV’s too loud… don’t just sit there and complain. Get up and turn it down.

Prayer: Father, forgive me when I shift blame and dodge responsibility.  Help me to see clearly, not just the faults of others, but my own.  May I always seek to be a part of the solution, not just a critic of the problem.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day