I was a preacher for most of my life, and as I prepared sermons each week, I often found myself asking, “What do others need to hear?” That question fits the role, but it can quietly shape how I read Scripture in an unhealthy way. Instead of first asking what God is saying to me, I can begin by looking for material that applies to someone else. Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1 interrupt that pattern: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” The Greek verb carries the sense of “Stop judging,” as if He is addressing a habit already in progress. That lands a little too close to home. Jesus describes the person who tries to remove a speck from another’s eye while ignoring the log in his own. It is a vivid image, and I suspect I am not the only one who has attempted delicate spiritual surgery while carrying around lumber.
The story of Sir Percival Lowell adds an interesting layer to this problem. He was convinced that canals existed on Mars and mapped them carefully through his telescope. His reputation was so strong that few questioned him. Later discoveries revealed that the canals were not real at all. They were caused by a condition in his own eyes, where he was actually seeing the blood vessels within them. The lines he mapped across Mars were coming from within himself. I cannot help but see the connection. I say this carefully, because I recognize how easy it is to study the “fault lines” in others while overlooking the deeper issues in my own heart. It is possible to become so focused on the perceived shortcomings of others that we mistake our own distortions for clarity. That is a humbling realization, and perhaps a necessary one.
The New Testament brings this issue into sharper focus through the words and example of Jesus. In John 8:7, He says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone.” That statement does not deny wrongdoing, but it redirects attention to the heart of the accuser. Paul echoes this idea when he writes, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother?… For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:10). The emphasis shifts from evaluating others to examining ourselves before God. Through Christ, we are invited into a different posture, one marked by humility and awareness of our own need for grace. As Jesus teaches elsewhere, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly” (Matthew 7:5). Clarity begins not with others, but within.