By Linda Cox
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:3
I confess. I am a black pot. Guilty of calling a kettle black.
I was not happy about something my husband wanted to do without me. I was hurt. I thought he was being selfish. I was grumpy and pouting. I needed a good “poor me” cry.
It came a couple of days later. But not as expected.
I was pouring my heart out to the Lord, praying for Him to help me forgive my husband’s selfishness. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Or I should say God hit me with His words like a ton of bricks: “YOU are calling a kettle black when you are a black pot yourself.”
Oh my . . . you see, my husband wasn’t leaving me out. I was refusing to do something he wanted to do because I am afraid to fly. My fear and stubbornness—my selfishness—had created the tension between us in the first place.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I begged the Lord to forgive my own selfishness, blindness, and hateful attitude. As I raised my head to look at the dark, pre-dawn sky a large, long-lived, falling star blazed across the heavens! It was God’s exclamation point, reminding me of His compassion that never fails, His mercy that is new every morning, and most importantly His forgiveness that had been won for me on the cross of Christ. (And no doubt, it was also His exclamation point as He said, “Finally! She got it!”)
How easily we see another’s sin but fail to see our own. Now there is a time and place for talking with someone about sin in their lives, but we need to look inward first and see the condition of our hearts, see what black pots we are, as I had just seen.
One day Christ will return on the clouds, but that morning He returned on a falling star. I caught His message and put it in the pocket of my heart. And His forgiveness flooded my soul. May His forgiveness flood all of our hearts and souls as we fall on our knees in thankfulness and praise for the God who loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
