There is a board. You have one and I have one. What board do you speak of Jeff? I do not have any boards. Ahh, you are correct if you recognize that this board is not easy for us to see. It is not a board that is kept in the garage or basement. It is not a board for a project. It did not come from Lowes or Home Depot.
The board that I refer to is invisible to us. We cannot see it, because it is in our eye. It is the board that Jesus refers to in Matthew chapter 7. We don’t see this board because we have looked past it for so long that now it just seems to be a normal part of the panorama of our vision.
Jesus calls us out on this. It may be normal to us, but he begs us to see this perversion. This board is unfair, it judges others and it is a blind spot to us. As long as this board remains, we are unable to see anything as it is. Not our fellow sojourners here on earth, or our Father in heaven. We only see clearly when the board is removed.
Maybe your board tells you that all Republicans are bad or all Democrats. Maybe it tells you that all Baptists are bad or all Catholics or all Methodists. Maybe it tells you that KU fans are stuck up or MU fans are something. [And please do not post a comment saying that KU fans are stuck up.] Maybe your board tells you that poor people are lazy. Homeless people should just get a job. All corporations are evil. All people in power over me are unfair. Good looking people are snobs. The pastor at that church must be………
And on and on it goes.
Are you aware of your board? Do you see it? Only by becoming aware of our preconceived foolishness can we move into real living. Only by waking up to our own darkness can we ever move into the light. May God help us see our boards and remove them so that we might begin to see the world as he does.
It’s a beautiful day in God’s world, be sure to see the good.
2 comments:
Jeff, I think the biggest thing with the board is that we are commanded not to play God. Matthew 7 seems to question us about who gave us the right to judge someone, with a tiny speck in their eye, when we're carrying around a huge board in ours. When in fact, specks rarely keeping us from seeing, but boards can block our whole vision and perspective about how God wants us to see life. Your post is a good reminder.
Most often what irritates me about others folks are the same things my "board" doesn't let me see about myself.
As I get older I think more about being judged as harshly as I judge others.
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