Psalm of the Day: Psalm 77:1-20
Wisdom of the Day: Job 2:1-13
Scripture Reading: Luke 6:39-45
We learn from these verses that those who reprove the sins of others, should strive to be of blameless life. Our Lord teaches us this lesson by a practical saying. He shows the unreasonableness of a man finding fault with "a speck," or trifling thing in a brother's eye while he himself has "a beam," or some large and formidable object sticking in his own eye.
The lesson must doubtless be received with suitable and scriptural qualifications. If no man is to teach or preach to others, until he himself is faultless then there could be no teaching or preaching in the world. The erring would never be corrected and the wicked would never be reproved. To put such a sense as this on our Lord's words brings them into collision with other plain passages of Scripture.
The main object of our Lord Jesus appears to be to impress on ministers and teachers the importance of consistency of life. The passage is a solemn warning not to contradict by our lives what we have said with our lips. The office of the preacher will never command attention unless he practices what he preaches. Ordination, university degrees, high-sounding titles, a loud profession of doctrinal purity will never procure respect for a minister's sermon, if his congregation sees him cleaving to ungodly habits.
But there is much here which we shall all do well to remember. The lesson is one which many besides ministers should seriously consider. All heads of families, all parents, all teachers of schools, all tutors, all managers of young people should often think of the "speck" and the "beam." All such should see in our Lord's words, the mighty lesson that nothing influences others as much as consistency of conduct. Let the lesson be treasured up and not forgotten!
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, help me to live a life of consistency by judging myself first.
Action Plan: How often do I find faults in other people so that I feel better about myself? This is a poor habit that exposes many beams thought to be just splinters.
This devotional was taken from The Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle published in 1858
and adapted by Pastor Tim Lewis of New England Shores Baptist Church.
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