Focus on Me

Scrolling through my social media, I find people judging others and calling them out for their gestures, actions, words, and thoughts. They notice other people’s sins and wrongdoings and post them for the whole world to see. While they post the sins of others, they hide their own sins. They complain that the world will never become better but worse because other people refuse to repent and change their evil ways.

Why do we focus on other people so much? Do we know we have a plank in our own eyes?

If it sounds controversial and hypocritical it is. Many people would rather point out the sins and wrongdoings of other than fix and change themselves. If they can direct people’s attention off of them, then they can continue in their own evil ways.

I encountered these ideas and words all my life in the church and Christian institutions. I am also guilty of doing the same thing. I want to hide my sins from others because I fear that they will judge me and dismiss me. I have come to understand that none of us can hide from God.  

Life seems much easier to point out the sins and evils of other people than to repent of our own sins and evils. If we take the time to fix ourselves, we will change. Change brings difficulties and reveals the truth.

We must all face the truth that we all have sin and evil in our lives. Jesus told the people in his message to take out the planks in their own eyes before attempting to take the speck of sawdust out of someone else’s eyes. He made it clear that we cannot put others people’s sins on a scale and ignore our own.

The world must become better. If I stand and point at everyone who must do the work to make the world a better place, I relieve myself from having to do anything. So many people use social media as a platform to inform others of what they must do to make the world a better place, while they sit and scroll on their devices and do nothing.

We can only begin to make the world a brighter and better place when we look into our own souls and make the changes that we must make.

 We don’t always know who we influence. We don’t know who listens or reads our words. One thing I know that most people remember what I did and not what I said or posted on social media.

When we focus on repenting of our own sins and changing our ways, someone changes. Someone does something to make the world a bit brighter. If we want the world to be better, let’s work on taking the planks out of our eyes.