Two couples sat gossiping together about another couple. The third couple had committed a grave sin and it had ended up being quite a public affair.
Ironically, the other two couples had committed the same sin. But they couldn’t see that, public or not, the sin was the exact same sin. In their minds, the third couple’s sin was much worse than their own.
I guess we’ve all been guilty of calling out, judging, or gossiping about someone who is doing something that we do ourselves and can’t even see.
Human blindness to sin and worldliness is incredibly…blinding.
And just a little terrifying…
Our tendency is to judge others and never look at ourselves. Somehow we can rationalize and excuse away what we do and, yet, do not apply the same reasons and excuses to others.
In 2 Corinthians 13:5 it tells us to examine ourselves to be sure we are in the faith.
Unfortunately, we so often examine others instead of ourselves.
And, ironically, we can often see sins in others that are present in ourselves and somehow harshly judge others while giving ourselves a pass.
Have you heard the complainer judge others for complaining? Or a prideful, arrogant person complain about someone else who is arrogant? How about the gossiper who gets so offended when they are the target of someone else’s gossip?
It’s always easy to see what someone else is doing wrong, isn’t it?
And so a most important prayer to pray is for God to open our blind eyes.
And when He does (and He will), we need to be willing to see what He is showing us.
In my experience, this can be a very painful process. But better to be in pain than to continue on in sin or worldliness you didn’t even realize you were committing.
The human heart and mind are fascinating. And they tend to be very deceptive. They can convince us that lies are truth. They can give us reasons to continue on in sin or worldliness. They convince us that someone else’s sin is so much worse than ours, even when it’s the exact same sin.
And there is only one remedy. And that is coming to God, through prayer and studying the Word, with a humble, teachable heart willing to hear the truth, painful as it may be.
I can tell you right up front that this won’t be a pleasant process and it won’t really feel good. But, like a wound that lies festering beneath the surface, facing the truth about ourselves brings healing. It will begin the process that will grow and strengthen our relationship with Jesus and heal and strengthen our relationship with others.
And that makes it so worth every bit of pain.