Eye Beam

Think of a time when you got a speck of something in your eye!  It might have been tiny, but do remember the irritation and the pain? Ouch! Until it was removed you were distracted, blurred, and somewhat helpless.  Ever seen someone else with the same sort of problem?  What was your response to that person's need?

Read Matthew 7:1-5

 1) Judge not, that ye be not judged.  2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  4) Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

This passage is about

    1. marred vision and hindered blessings

    2. restoring vision and blessing

So which is the mote and which is a beam?

_______________ - a great length of timber, a log, a rafter

_______________ - a tiny speck (like sawdust), a splinter

                 Hint: alphabetical order

According to Matthew 7

Who is called a hypocrite?

Which must be removed first, the mote or the beam? Why?

Hint: Which is more easily spotted, accessed, and personal? Which is not?

The mote is some fault that I see in another (real or imagined).

- It's hard to tell with that log in the way; isn't it!

The beam may simply be my unloving response to one who has the mote.

Feelings of resentment, coldness, and criticism are signs of an unloving spirit.

The first flicker of an unkind thought or criticism is the beginning of this un-love.

Key: I choose to love or to un-love.

If I choose to love -  I will admonish and exhort, and provoke.

admonish - caution, reprove, rebuke (Col. 3:16)  Admonishing whom? _____________

exhort - encourage, urge (Heb.3:13)  Exhort when? _______________

provoke - incite (Heb. 10:24)  Provoke to what?     _______________

Bottom line: The love of Jesus poured into me will make me want to help my brother.

Where does love for Jesus begin?  (Phil. 1:21, I Cor.15:31)  Hint: ide to elfs

IF I die to myself - to my gifts, to my rights, to my power, to my goodness, to my ambition;

THEN and only then will I understand the cross and have the power of God in my life.

What makes for a successful removal? (verse 5)

I must first cast sin from my own heart, so I may be clean to help my brother

- before it's too late, for either or both of us!

Ask God to reveal the timber of sin that is in your heart.  Then ask forgiveness and repent. 
PM