Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye,
but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?
Or how can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’
while there is a beam in your own?
You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye,
and then you can see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother’s eye.
~Matthew 7:3-5
There is a scene in 'Silence of the Lambs' where FBI Agent Trainee, Clarice Starling, is trying to convince Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter to take part in an interview to help set up a criminal profile. The scene twist comes when Lecter tries to turn the tables on Agent Starling:
* Lector: You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you’re not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you Agent Starling? And that accent you’ve tried so desperately to shed? Pure West Virginia. What’s your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of olean? While you could only dream of getting out…getting anywhere…getting all the way to the FBI.
* Starling: You see a lot, Doctor. How about if you turn that powerful focus on yourself?
It is at this point that Doctor Lecter abruptly terminates the conversation.
Let's be honest...we are VERY good at picking out the flaws and faults in others. Some people actually relish the opportunity to point out (sometimes publicly) what they perceive as flaws in others.
Why is that?
- Could it be that, in pointing out the flaws in others, we can take attention away from our own?
- Could it be that degrading others makes us feel better about ourselves?
- Could it be that we're really that cruel and hurtful?Only you can answer that for you and I can answer that for me.
For me, it would be the first option. But what does Scripture tell us? That we are FIRST to clean our own yard before pointing out the weeds in someone else's.
Are you willing to "turn that powerful focus on yourself"? Imagine how different our lives would become if we spent more time encouraging others instead of degrading others.
