Behold God's Grace and not the Mote!

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matthew 7:1-3 King James Version).

Why beholdest the mote? Why do we see or behold and take notice of what is wrong in others? There may be a lack in our selves. There is poverty in beholding what is wrong in others. It is a poor attitude that only we can by the power of the Word and Spirit of God see, so that we can consider its effects upon our outlook. This poverty can block our view and the way to prosperity, and seeing the good in others. It is only when we see that Jesus looked beyond our faults and saw our needs that we will do the same. Why not consider the beam? We may not want to see, perceive and discover what is poverty within us. Grace is the way to prosperity and prepares us for what is necessary to consider what is wrong with us and gives us the strength to seek God's help to combat this ill will.

"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 7:1 - New International Version).

A beam is not a telescope that gives us the capacity to see the faults and shortcomings of others, it obstructs our view of ourselves. We cannot use the beam protruding from our eyes as a telescope that we use to zoom in on the faults and shortcomings of others. To consider the beam in our own eye we must examine ourselves and recognize our need for grace. The beam is in our way and only through projection and irresponsibility allows us to see other people with disdain and accusation and excuses ourselves. Jesus warns us to forgive and we will be forgiven, and if we condemn, we will be condemned. When we judge others we condemn ourselves. Maturity and responsibility in our relationship with God helps us to judge ourselves by His righteous standard. The mercy and grace we receive is what we should in turn give, or we are no better than the unjust servant mentioned in the parable. He was forgiven his debts and went and found someone who owed him a debt and had ill will towards him.

In considering the beam and all that obstructs seeing ourselves with the right attitude, and under the microscope of what Jesus is admonishing us here is the answer to beholding the mote or insignificant things about others which distract us from applying the ointment of grace to our lives in order to extend grace to others when they fall short of God's glory. Jesus cautions us to be mindful of our own shortcomings and be actively working these things out through the mercy and love of God towards us or He deems us hypocrites. I don't know about you but it is not the desire of my heart to serve hypocrisy or to serve it to others. Do you know that a mote is actually smaller than a beam or plank?

This is a selah moment so to speak, pause to think about what motivates judging others and excusing ourselves. Considering what it is within us that likes to judge others instead of pray. Could it be a root of bitterness we neglected to consider, and what it could grow into and what kind of fruits it would produce? Only maturation and the mature will be able to carefully consider and embrace this aspect of renewing our minds. You will have to walk in maturity to consider the beam. It is an OUCH moment.

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20 KJV).

Jesus warned the disciples and is also warning us today that unless our righteousness is more than what the Pharisees exhibited, we are in danger and would in no case scenario enter the kingdom of heaven. We are to be on guard and lookout for the teachings of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. Beholding the mote and not considering the beam is hypocrisy.

"And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6 KJV).

"Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy" (Luke 12:1b).

"Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst.

They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

So when they continued asking him, he lift up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lift up himself, and saw none but the woman; he said unto her, Woman where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her. Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more” (John 8:1-11 KJV).

Here we have this story of the woman taken in adultery in which the Pharisees knew the law was that such a one should be stoned to death. Jesus calls them on their beam, He said, you who is without sin, you cast the first stone at her. Good example of considering the beam in your own eye, and how to think about that. The mote they saw quickly vanished to consider their own selves and guess what ? They dropped their stones being convicted by their own hearts as well as the words Jesus spoke. Can you hear what verse 9 said, and when they heard what Jesus said, it convicted their conscience. When condemnation is the motive, we are to resolve it quickly and leave that person along with their mote alone with God by praying their strength and continue on our way to sin no more.

This is a remarkable account, here is Jesus, the only sinless one in the world and crowd, and He would be the only one who would qualify or have the right to throw the first stone. Yet, He chose mercy instead, there is great application to consider ascertaining and implementing in our lives and there is not a bigger response that can ever be given. If He that had no sin refuses to throw the first stone, what should my response be? Consider my beam and drop the stones!

What is the language or speech used here in this extended conversation of Jesus Christ to us through these passages? It is not the language and speech of judgment which is void of considering your self.

Nevertheless, judgment is imperative in all things and for every decision we make, however, it is needed with the right attitude. For if we would judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged because we would deal responsibly with considering the beam in our own eye. Our conscience houses our judicial system (it is the judgment center of the soul) assisting us in judging right and wrong. What Jesus is teaching is that it is more needful to judge oneself than it is to judge others. It is not our conscience which judges others, that's an acquired attitude which comes with reasoning whether a person is right or wrong, then wanting to condemn them for being wrong and that attitude takes us off the path of judging our own self. Jesus didn't come to condemn and isn't suggesting that we condemn ourselves, but counseling us to examine and behold ourselves in the right light. The right lighting is needful to get anything out of our eyes.

Our conscience is the judicial aspect of our being. Conscience does not make you do right or wrong, it judges your actions, thoughts, motives, intentions and attitude. The conscience will either accuse you or excuse you, it needs the light of Word and Spirit to be successful. Jesus words should always convict us not condemn us. This is the first time I actually noticed the Pharisees hearing Jesus and their consciences convicting them towards a change in attitude.

Conscience is one of the faculties or board members of the soul which is dependent on us to provide the obedience necessary for light to expose the darkness of our thoughts and deeds. it is to the saving and prosperity of the soul that the Holy Spirit is engaged in our lives right now on a daily basis. Along with the conscience are the intellect, imagination, reasoning, will, emotions, and memory. All of these aspects of our souls are under formation by the Holy Spirit who is forming Christ in us. We are encouraged by the Apostle Paul to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, our minds are in our souls. As the formation of Christ takes place in us we are ushered across, beyond, and we are crossing over to the other side where light is preeminent and prevalent.

We have all the facts concerning our thoughts, actions, motives, desires, determinations, feelings, we just may not have a working knowledge of why these things do not line up and are not lining up with God's mandates, but honesty and integrity will pave the way to understanding.

In order to responsibly consider the beam in our own eye, we must first consider the grace we have received. Grace is a gift of favor we can never deserve and once we ascertain this truth we examine our selves and the beam disappears because of the grace received; and the mote in a brother or sister eye disappears because we extend the grace we have received to them as well understanding that mercy triumphs over all judgment we hold for others. We then leave judgment in the hands of the Father whom has all of the facts concerning them and not what can lead to a root of bitterness in our own hearts. We must first consider the grace of God so that we evaluate the beam blocking our view of others.

The Scriptures are what informs us whether our thoughts and actions are good or bad; right and wrong. But our conscience is how we judge ourselves in light of the information it informs us of. Conscience is our inner judge. Very rarely does our conscience judge others, it wasn't designed to judge others, but rather to judge ourselves and to judge right and wrong and to make the determination when something is wrong or right, and it accuses the wrong and excuses the right.

Why behold the mote is such a call for examination and self inventory. It is a question we must ask ourselves, why am I beholding the mote at the expense of not considering the beam in my own eye. Eye is singular here but it is two eyes functioning as one. Which eye has the beam, left or right? Of course the answer would be both eyes, yet one view. Why would the beam be in both eyes though? The two eyes have been taught how to see everything as one. We have a new soul which is continuously being cleansed, purged, pruned of all the unrighteousness sin produced as it meets up with the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

We must use our memories to remind us of the grace and mercy we have received, are receiving and all that is in our accounts for future endeavors. Judgment will never triumph over mercy; and grace will never be something we deserve. Therefore we should always have the attitude of gratitude to combat beholding the mote, so that we can consider the beam obstructing the view of God's attributes freely given to us.

A grateful heart will cancel beholding the mote in the eye of others, why, because when we consider mercy, consideration of the beam in our own eye becomes evident and the beam can no longer block our view or hinder our path. We forgive the offenses of others so that no root of bitterness can spring up and defile others. Forgiveness must be part of the equation in beholding the mote and considering the beam.

Beholding the mote speaks that we are not willing to forgive others their trespasses. How then can we ask or expect to be forgiven by God the Father? Considering the beam in our own eyes means that we are in touch with our own frailty and need for God's forgiveness and we can see our downfalls, and down sittings and failures and in order to consider these things the springs of grace and mercy have to be flowing abundantly through us.

Why behold the mote which is a speck in comparison to a beam. This speaks of magnitude and size. The mote in someone's eye has to be uncomfortable already without having anyone zooming in on it. I am reminded of having a speck of dirt in my eye and how uncomfortable that really is. Yet, the beam seems unreasonable, but beams blocks the whole view; they stop us from seeing the bigger picture. Have you ever gone to the theatre and someone very tall is seated in front of you? What is happening, they are blocking your view. However, it is not someone but something in us that is blocking our view. A mote can be removed with a mirror and the right amount of light so that we can maneuver the particle in the eye, but a beam can block everything in sight, it is a hindrance to seeing clearly and can blind us to ourselves.

The Lord Jesus is saying, don't block your view. You need to see me clearly so don't allow anything or anyone to block your view of Me. We are being admonished to get what is in our way, out of the way so that we can see clearly. When you are able to see clearly, you may be able to serve as a mirror to the one with the mote and be of assistance. How can we help anyone if our own view is blocked by self contamination. We should be at least working on the beam getting smaller and smaller. We may have to disect this beam and reduce its size to remove it out of the way. Beams shrink through grace and mercy when we remember that these are gifts from God. A gift is not a reward or it fails to be a gift. A beam is not a telescope it doesn't give us the ability to scope what is in front of us, when it really hinders the view. There are things we must see which are beyond judging others. We must grow and develop into what God designed us to be, responsible judges of self. We can't be willing to let self off the hook by blaming others through judgment, instead of turning that judgment inward first. King David said, Thy rod and staff comfort me. The rod of correction is just as comforting and soothing as the staff the shepherd uses to lead us. Whom God loves He chastises.

Why behold the mote? This is a question which is dependent upon the consideration of a beam. A beam can be anything, a perspective, a thought, an action, and anything we render judgment about without first considering ourselves and not making excuse for ourselves. We override our conscience at this point by excusing our own actions which are contrary to the Word and accusing others. Why do we see the faults of others and not consider who died for them? The answer to shrinking a beam is remembering God's grace and mercy towards us. It is only when we consider mercy that we shrink beams, and our focus is healed. Jesus wants us to consider our own deeds and judge righteous judgment. Judgment of ourselves is a full-time job. We are full of unresolved issues concerning ourselves that we are working out.

Consider entails thinking about it and what is the intent and reason for judging what we don't even have all the pieces of the puzzle concerning others to judge them by. Respect for whose servants they are is an ointment. I didn't die for the sins of others, so what would give me the right to judge them. When I consider the mercy I've received in this life, mercy whispers be quiet and keep the peace you've received, grace joins the conversation and lets me know that I am a recipient of unmerited favor, to savor it and rest in the finished works of Jesus Christ. The judicial system called the conscience has already determined whether the action is right or wrong. There is no further judgment needed because I have the answer, either it is right or wrong and that is really the end of the dialogue. To dwell on the issue would be to blow it out of proportion and create a beam too mammoth for me to see and that will block my view.

There is further work the Scriptures needs to address in our lives in order for us to not have a beam block our view or the way. As we consider the beam, we will be enabled to implement the Word of God to get rid of it. Let grace be your greatest companion and let mercy hold your hands.