Sawdust

The carpenter was almost finished building my deck.  He had cut dozens of boards, building up quite a large pile of sawdust.  Unfortunately, it was a blustery day, and the sawdust was swirling all over the place.  In my yard, as well as the neighbor’s yard, the sawdust was imbedded in everything. 

While I was out raking, I was buffeted by an especially strong wind that pelted my face with sawdust.  I felt a little bit like the windshield on a car that was driven at high speed through a cluster of bugs.  Not surprisingly, I wound up with a small, almost undetectable piece of grit in my eye.  After much blinking and eye-watering, I finally went into the house to wash it out.

Jesus uses a similar incident to describe how we judge people.  Jesus said, “Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own.  How can you say, ‘let me help you get rid of that speck’ when you can’t see past the log from your own eye.  First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”   (Matthew 7:3-5, NLT).    

Back in the day, in the churches where I grew up, it seemed like there were a number of external measurements that were supposed to demonstrate your value as a Christian.   Sadly, many of these conformity standards lead to alienation of some people who failed to live up to the “proper” way of speaking and acting.  Since then, I have come to understand that the mark of a true Christ follower is found in the person who lives by grace and offers it in abundance.

Brennan Manning writes in The Ragamuffin Gospel: “The disciple living by grace rather than law has undergone a decisive conversion.  That person has turned from mistrust to trust.  The foremost characteristic of living by grace is trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.”   

According to Jesus, a true disciple will examine his or her own motives and conduct first.  What we need to avoid is that as we grow in our faith, it becomes easier and easier to magnify the bad habits of others while excusing our own.  While He also commands us to be discerning and to use critical thinking, at the same time, we are told not to be condemning in our attitudes.  The person who exercises strict standards of law, coupled with a judgmental or critical spirit, differs radically from one of love and grace. 

My prayer this week is that we will all share in the wisdom to know the difference. 

-Pastor Mike Howard