In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus teaches us things have relative importance in our lives. A speck of dust is not as large as a log. In his teaching, Jesus tells us we must remove both. But certainly we all agree the log will take the most work.
Is it a big deal if you have a speck in your eye? Of course it is. It can distract you almost completely. But if all I am looking for is specks, I can miss the big picture. I may be headed straight to hell with speck free eyes and logs of sin weighing me down.
Let me give you an example. We teach the correct doctrine on the design, mode, and subject of baptism. Faith, repentance, and baptism are the commands of Jesus and our pathway to standing justified before God (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 2:38). But is that all there is? No. In many ways these are the specks of our Christian life. We are forced to focus on them because so much of the denominational world around us teaches false doctrine on these issues. But in reality, baptism is a blip on the radar of our Christian walk. If I am baptized but fail to change my life, what good is it? Let’s remove our logs.
During the early 1800’s, religious thinkers tried to remove anything unknown to the Scriptures. Are there creeds or rules for Christian life written by man in the New Testament? No. What about church councils or Bishops put in place to represent entire regions of individual Christians? No. If we are to jettison creeds and human tradition, how do we know who is even a Christian. Thomas Campbell attempted to solve that problem this way:
“That the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and of none else; as none else can be truly and properly called Christians1.”-Thomas Campbell (1809)
Do we manifest by our tempers and conduct that we are disciples of Christ? How closely is our life aligned to what Jesus lays out in the Sermon on the Mount? Does the world know us by our fruits?
We may worship God correctly and teach the doctrine of salvation as found in the Bible but do our attitudes and actions so blind people to us that all they see is the log of our unchanged life. Paul says: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”-I Corinthians 13:1-3. In other words, I may see the speck of error in my neighbors religious practice but he can’t hear me because the log of my unloving life is screaming too loudly for him to listen.
Christianity is not about doctrine. It is about life-change. Am I bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24)? If not, have I truly crucified my life and is Christ living in me. A life that does not reflect Christ in my tempers and conduct is a log that prevents me from seeing and others from listening. “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”-Matthew 7:5.
Have you ever had something in your eye? What kind of person would you trust to take it out? Do you want a careless, rough person with no regard for your feelings clawing around at your eye? The same applies in the religious realm. If my life displays compassion, care, and a level of expertise, others will trust us to remove their specks. If others see Christ living in us, they will ask how they can let that light shine in their own lives.
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