Matthew 7:3-5, “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? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Well, Jesus didn’t beat around the bush with these three verses, did He? Isn’t it strange how we can see everyone else’s problems more clearly than we can see our own? It’s easy to criticize what we see others doing outwardly while failing to examine our own shortcomings inwardly. Sometimes we have an unconscious bias. We tend to like what we are familiar with, and we tend not to like what we see as different. And these things have a way of shaping our judgments about others. It’s not easy to admit we have blind spots, but when we begin to recognize them, it becomes easier to show God’s grace and love to others.

Today is a good day to remove the plank from our own eyes.