Plank in the eye

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The English language has made it an idiom: "A beam in your eyes".
This word comes from Jesus in Matthew 7: 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, and do you not see the plank in your own eye?

Sometimes things go a little further in the mind of some Christians, and sometimes they try to " reposition " their brothers and sisters who do not have the right vision of themselves.
In 95% of cases, people are convinced that the problem comes from the other. Those who have a plank in their eye are often not aware of it. That is why Jesus made this remark: "and do you not see the beam in your eye". In many cases, therefore, we should not expect to see by ourselves that we have a beam in our eye.
In this sense, this word of Jesus does not only apply to obvious situations, but it is often applicable in much more insidious situations.

In the same way, it can sometimes happen that we have the same kind of erroneous thoughts about ourselves, without involving a third party. Some, for example, listen to a teaching, believing that they have already put all of it into practice in their daily lives.
It's a bit like when we were kids and we used to look at acrobats and say, "After all, it's not that difficult, I'm sure I can do it too".

How many times do we think we have the right way of thinking, the right way of understanding this or that situation. How many times do we have words, or publish writings on social networks to say: "We must think like this or like that", or "We must act this or that way in our lives", whereas in the majority of cases, we do not follow half of our own advice ourselves.

We realize, without taking any risk, that more than 80% of the Church of Christ is concerned by this word of Jesus.
I even think that all Christians have been concerned at one time or another by this word (to see a speck in the eye of your neighbour, without seeing the plank that is in ours), with a more or less important impact depending on the people.

In order to have a balanced position in relation to this word of Jesus, it is important first of all to impose on us to put into practice what we tell others to do. Weighing our words is essential, but so is realizing what they imply when we speak them for others or for ourselves.
We all have had at one time or another, this blindness to think that we do everything we say, or everything we write or publish. But I think that a majority of us, if he is honest, will admit that he has had or still has points in his life where he does not do what he says, where his actions are not in line with his words. We often allow ourselves to give advice or statements that we do not apply in the first place to ourselves.
Of course, those who have the responsibility to teach, to advise such as pastors, teachers, group leaders, etc., are in the front line because the consequences are more important when they address an audience publicly. But at the end of the day, all Christians are concerned without any exception.

I have done this test many times of asking someone if they applied in their life what they themselves were saying in their own words or writings.
The answer was always: "Yes, of course."
But when I looked more closely, I realized that very often this person was deceiving himself. He did not do what he said at all in some areas.
The same fact applies when listening to a Bible teaching, for instance.
We listen to it, we find it very interesting, very relevant, we even sometimes think that it is a perfect teaching for one of our loved ones... If someone asks us if we have put this teaching into practice in our personal lives, we answer once again: "Yes, of course! ».

So there are situations where I may think I have acquired a way of thinking, a way of doing things, when this is not the case at all. I can sincerely believe that I have this or that attitude in my life, when in fact, it is not the case at all.
This shows us that our personal judgment is not always in line with the reality. This is a very important point to accept and assimilate, because it will allow us to get out of this spiral of harmful self-satisfaction.

In my turn, a few years after seeing this kind of attitude in a multitude of Christians, I thought I must certainly also be the victim of this kind of thing, without necessarily realizing it. I must have had a plank in my eye without noticing it.
If others think they are doing everything they say they are doing when they are not, then I must also myself have been wrong in some areas of my personal life.

It was indeed by asking a very close and trustworthy person to give me his opinion on some of my attitudes that I realized that there were aspects of my person for which I had a very erroneous view and appreciation.
This experience allowed me to realize that I was not impartial with myself at all.
It is a facet of our human side, of our non-renewed soul, which has the nearly inability to make a true judgment on ourselves and on our attitudes.

Some may say that in this case, we must rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us these errors of judgment about ourselves. That is absolutely true, and it should be the best way to do it in the absolute. But quite often in this kind of situation, we are not in the best position to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us.
But when we are in this situation, when we think we are doing right but we are doing wrong, our soul will often impose itself and justify itself in such a strong way that some may believe that it is the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Others may say to me: "Franck, don't you think you're exaggerating a little, the reality of the facts is not so mismatched in the lives of Christians? »
If I were to exaggerate, we would never see two Christian people telling each other that the Holy Spirit revealed to them a totally different point of view on the same subject.
Maintaining such a biased attitude will block my spiritual growth on many levels. This is why it is urgent that everyone can have a real and true vision of themselves.
This demonic trap, into which many have fallen without realizing it most of the time, will prevent me from integrating the teachings I will listen to. Why try to put into practice something I already think I have acquired?
Why try to change in an area where I don't think I have to change?
It is easy to see now the harmfulness of such a way of thinking.

So it is a fact, we need more objectivity about ourselves.
Of course the Holy Spirit can and wants to help me in this area. It is always important to team up with Him. But in this team, He will sometimes be able to use other trusted people to help me see a little more clearly.

How can this be done in practical ways?
It's very simple. Having someone who will help me to identify negative attitudes that I don't see, will open my vision.
It is easy to understand that as long as I do not see a bad attitude, a speaking style, intonations of voices, etc..., I will not be able to remove them from my thoughts (thinking being at the root of all things).
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you choose a born-again person like you, a person you trust, a person who has a balanced judgment that will be very creditable in your eyes.
Hearing this person describe some of my attitudes, some of my words that I didn't see, will allow me to open my eyes. These revelations will help me to realize my misjudgment about myself. I will then be able to open my eyes to aspects of my person that have remained in the dark until now. I will see and accept to open my eyes where I was deceiving myself.

As a result, I will be able to see where I made a mistake in my judgment about myself. I'm going to be able to identify a wrong way to evaluate myself. So in the future, of course, there is no way we're going to stay as if we're hanging on to this person and let them become our mentor, or let them be there to point out our mistakes every time, not at all!
But it is when I open my eyes to my personal evaluation error that I will be able to correct my lack of impartiality in certain areas. I would then have realized that my way of self-evaluating myself was not very good in some areas, and as a result I could change things and be much more objective about me, having seen that I had left some grey areas in my ways of doing or saying. It would therefore be much easier to track down these grey areas which, with time and especially with maturity, will become increasingly rare.

This will increase my humility. My carnal or human image will decrease to let my spiritual person develop. In a nutshell, my position as a son of God will then take priority over my social and human position in this world.

The goal is to have a person who opens my eyes on a part of myself and realizes that I was sure I was doing the right thing, and yet I was doing wrong.
As a result, and having had the evidence that I was wrong about myself, I now know that I may be wrong. This will lead me to be much more vigilant, to question myself more deeply, and especially not to remain stubborn and obstinate in the face of a circumstance in which I think I am right, when I am wrong.

Acknowledging and admitting that I was not right about myself in a certain area will therefore make me more cautious about my personal future judgment, more humble and open in order to see the next time I am wrong. I will then remove the plank that was in my eye.

Bye for now.