… in humility value others above yourselves…Philippians 2:3
How great I am!
Why shouldn’t I find fault with others?
They are clearly in the wrong,..
I am clearly in the right…
Consider my week:
Monday…Traffic is unbearable. I will be late…
“Why,” I ask the non-existent passenger next to me, “is that person driving 25 in a 45 MPH zone?”
“Don’t they know how to drive?”
Wednesday… Will I never get out of the grocery store?
“Did I get in the checkout line with the slowest cashier on earth?”
“Look how long he’s taking to ring up one item!”
Sunday… What is the pastor saying?
“Will that person in front of me stop talking to their neighbor?”
“I can hardly hear the message!”
“Me-Myself-and-I” found fault with everybody this week…
That’s because everyone else was at fault!
I am sure my wife will agree.
So I start to tell her about my week…
- “You wouldn’t believe the driver in front of me today…”
- “Did you hear that person in front of us in church?”
- “I would have been home sooner from the store except for the slow cashier.”
“Stop it!” she says.
And so I stop. (For a while.)
Perhaps I should remember…
No one has even made himself great by showing how small someone else is – Irvin Himmel
Jesus, who could have found fault with every one of us, said…
“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?
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5
As He was dying, when He could have blamed humanity for his death and all our sins…
He said instead…
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34
Note: Originally published March 15, 2014
2 thoughts on “It’s So Easy for Me to Find Fault”
I think a lot of people struggle with this too, myself included. Many don’t want to self reflect because they don’t want to admit the truth. Like many things it’s easier to compare our issues with those of others who we think are worse than us in that area so we don’t feel so bad about ourselves. It’s also much easier to tell somebody else how they should change than it is to actually apply the same advise to yourself.
Thankfully God doesn’t give up on us in spite of how we are. His grace truly is amazing.
I agree Jeff, and have to admit that for me it is far too easy to be self aggrandizing by pointing out the “faults” in others. Thanks for your comment!