May 17

Finding Fault with Others

Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? — Matt 7:3 BSB

It’s strange how blind we can be to our own faults while being so quick to spot those of others. One old writer put it this way: “People are more likely to use spectacles than mirrors—spectacles to see the faults of others, rather than mirrors to see their own.” A person can notice a tiny speck of dust in their neighbor’s eye while being completely unaware of the large beam in their own eye. They see the smallest fault in their brother while being oblivious to their own much greater failings.

You would think that a beam in someone’s eye would make them unable to see the speck in another’s eye. But as Jesus describes it, the person with the beam is the one who feels most competent to remove the speck. And that’s how it often is. No one is as quick to see a fault in another as someone who has the same or a similar fault. A vain person will easily spot vanity in someone else. A person with a bad temper is often the most critical of a neighbor’s bad temper. Someone with a sharp, unkind tongue is usually the least tolerant of another’s cutting words. A selfish person will detect even small signs of selfishness in others. Rude people are the first to be offended by rudeness in others.

This is always the case. If we are quick to spot the faults of others, it’s likely we have even greater faults ourselves. This truth should make us very cautious in our judgments and modest in our criticisms, because in pointing out others’ faults, we are often revealing our own. It is wiser, and more Christlike, to focus on finding the good in others and to remain silent about their shortcomings.