What About The Splinter?

Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. Luke 6:42

Mesquite trees are one of the toughest trees known to man. They can reach up to 50 feet tall with a branch spread of 40 feet or more. Their thorns are as tough as nails. They are big and strong and they can also kill you… You can move the beam of the tree completely out of the ground. It can be totally removed and yet one small trace, a splinter can get in your hand etc. and kill you. The thorns are poisonous and it is the splinter that will kill you…

There seems to be a new trend in the church or is it really new? I think that it is just re-packaged and re-labeled as being godly. (You have a beam in your eye, so you can’t even talk about my splinter)

I rarely speak out on controversial matters because I feel that it is more important to try and spark people to be inspired to change. I only speak now because I have seen so many loved ones in the church hurt, myself included while sitting on a pew. This message isn’t to point fingers or to say I am better than you. On the contrary I know without a shadow of a doubt that I have failed God probably more and in worse ways than most of you who will read this blog. I am a failure, a sinner, a former backslider, and was once lost. I had a beam in my eye.

But… what about the splinter?

Now, I am free, a sinner saved by grace, on fire for God, and I have been found. There is a great divide in the church for people like me. I was raised in church and walked away for several years. Then when I came back home I was welcomed with open arms like the prodigal daughter. The welcome party was short lived. Then there was a wide assortment of criticisms. It broke my heart literally. To think that I was so on fire for God and I just wanted to please Him and here I was made to feel like I wasn’t good enough. That I would have to do penance and (16) hail Mary’s and then it just might be possible to be used of God. It may sound like I am being bitter or hateful but I am not I am only trying to share how hard it is for a person to come back to God while on display. There is an expectation placed on your shoulders to be the new perfect saint and it is hard to live up to. Sadly, I feel this is why so many backsliders do not come home. They can’t face the judgment. I am sharing this to be an eye-opener to the church not to be another person turning reverse criticism, what would be the point?

So what happens when a backslider feels so much criticism? What happens when you are ostracized by those who are supposed to love you? What happens when you are stumbling and about to fall? What happens when people sit back and say, “Look at what they are doing” they aren’t changed?

The answer is: They fall while sitting on the pew….

A friend told me recently that her pastor told her, “You can’t expect to be a 30 year saint in 2 years of coming back to God.” I don’t know why these words have spoken to me but they have resonated into my soul. The same is for me. I may have been raised in church but I walked away from God. I lived a life of sin to the fullest.  It has taken three years of constant consecration to God for Him to re-program my mind. Friends you can’t input that much sin into your life and expect that just because you came back to God that you won’t still be struggling. Give yourself a break and stop being so hard on yourself. It is a process and you will fail God once you get back into church. You will more than likely fail Him really bad and you will think that you can’t make it. Sadly, people will tell you that you can’t make it too.  

I am here as living proof that you too can make it!!!! I have learned the really hard way that not everyone is behind you. Not everyone is your friend. Not everyone sees the good in you and who you will become. But it is a lesson worth learning, so that you too do not become a splinter pointing at a beam in someone else’s eye. You can choose today this very moment to stop the cycle of disdain. You can stop the criticisms and begin to pray rather than judge the beam in another’s eye lest you grow a splinter that will become infected. A little leaven leaveneth a whole lump. So don't be a part of the lump be a part of restoration in the body! 

You set the tone and atmosphere for your life. You can change the world you live in by reaching out to those who are hurting. You too might be the next one to fall and you might need the same help up as your brother or sister.  Make the choice to change. When we truly become one body and change toward the love of Jesus, that is when we will be able to move toward revival. How can we truly love new people if we can’t love those who we know?

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

1 John 4:20

There is a splinter in the church and it is infecting the body. Just because you don’t have a beam in your eye, doesn't mean there isn't a problem. I want to point out in love that just because you sit on a pew and your sins aren’t as open as (mine or someone elses) remember pointing fingers at others doesn’t diminish your sin. Ouch that is strong language! Please note that I am not being a reverse-judge mentalist. I am only trying to point out some pitfalls that we have all been guilty to fall into these categories.

So what can us as church goers do to change how we treat others?

1)    Love our neighbor as ourselves (It really is the most important thing)

2)    Pray for our brother or sister when we see them in a pit

3)    Don’t put your brother or sister in a pit and cause them to fall

4)    Love our neighbor as ourselves

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4

We cannot put condemnation on those who are no longer walking after the flesh and who are now walking the Spirit. I am so grateful and humbled that the Lord saw fit to pull the beam out of my eye and am now missing an eye. I pray every day to reach for others in their pit so that they too can have the beam pulled out of their eye. I strive toward the mark of not letting a splinter fester into an infection within my own person. I choose to not spread the infection throughout the body of believers. Will I be perfect? No. I am only aware and with awareness bring the ability to be proactive to combat against the enemy of self. I choose to love in spite of fault. I choose daily examine my life for splinters. I pray this blog opens eyes not in judgment but in awareness!