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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
But the difficulty lies with the individual members of the church,
and it is here that the cure must be wrought. Jesus bids the accuser
first cast the beam out of his own eye, renounce his censorious spirit,
confess and forsake his own sin, before trying to correct others. For “a
good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.”
Luke 6:43
. This accusing spirit which you
indulge is evil fruit, and shows that the tree is evil. It is useless for
you to build yourselves up in self-righteousness. What you need is a
change of heart. You must have this experience before you are fitted
to correct others; for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh.”
Matthew 12:34
.
When a crisis comes in the life of any soul, and you attempt to
give counsel or admonition, your words will have only the weight of
influence for good that your own example and spirit have gained for
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you. You must be good before you can do good. You cannot exert
an influence that will transform others until your own heart has been
humbled and refined and made tender by the grace of Christ. When
this change has been wrought in you, it will be as natural for you to
live to bless others as it is for the rosebush to yield its fragrant bloom
or the vine its purple clusters.
If Christ is in you “the hope of glory,” you will have no disposition
to watch others, to expose their errors. Instead of seeking to accuse
and condemn, it will be your object to help, to bless, and to save.
In dealing with those who are in error, you will heed the injunction,
Consider “thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Galatians 6:1
. You will
call to mind the many times you have erred and how hard it was to
find the right way when you had once left it. You will not push your
brother into greater darkness, but with a heart full of pity will tell him
of his danger.
He who looks often upon the cross of Calvary, remembering that
his sins placed the Saviour there, will never try to estimate the degree
of his guilt in comparison with that of others. He will not climb upon
the judgment seat to bring accusation against another. There can be no
spirit of criticism or self-exaltation on the part of those who walk in
the shadow of Calvary’s cross.
Not until you feel that you could sacrifice your own self-dignity,
and even lay down your life in order to save an erring brother, have you
cast the beam out of your own eye so that you are prepared to help your