The Plank in Your Own Eye: What a Mess

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" ~Matthew 7:3

Most of you probably don’t know this but I’m somewhat of a neat freak. I organize my hangers by kind, have my robot vacuum run on schedule, and wash my bed sheets at precisely 9:30 AM every Saturday morning. Maybe I can be a little neurotic about it all, but hey, at least I’m not a germaphobe…anymore.

With this kind of mindset, unfortunately, I let little things get to me—even when it’s about someone else’s lifestyle. I catch myself acting nonchalant after hearing my friend never mops their floors when really, I’m thinking in my mind “how lazy are you?”

I felt convicted while reading this passage from The Imitation of Christ: "he whose disposition is well ordered cares nothing about the strange, perverse behavior of others, for a man is upset and distracted only in proportion as he engrosses himself in externals. But because you are as yet neither entirely dead to self nor free from all earthly affection, there is much that often displeases and disturbs you. Nothing so mars and defiles the heart of man as impure attachment to created things."

Thomas à Kempis reveals why I find myself so bothered by others: I'm obsessed with being better than their perceived shortcomings. I’m so concerned about keeping my environment tidy, I judge my standard against all others.

The Plank in Your Own Eye

Jesus put it much better: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). Little do I realize, they’re excelling in areas where I’m lacking. My perfection is, in fact, not so perfect. My focus is on the wrong thing. I am focusing on the trivial, the transient, instead of focusing on the person. My focus is self-interested.

As the fourth week of Lent nears, it’s important to examine if your Lenten commitment is being challenged by your “attachment to created things.” Are these created things causing you discontent? Is this discontent affecting your relationships? Let your only focus be on your daily, newfound disposition in Christ.

Always improve the present moment.