It’s Time to go Logging
I am a nerd, for many reasons. One reason is how I super enjoy looking up the meaning of words and their origin. Today I looked up the word logging on the Meriam-Webster website.
log
Verb
logged; logging
Definition of log (Entry 2 of 6)
Transitive Verb
1a: to cut (trees) for lumber
This particular definition of logging refers to cutting trees for lumber. If I were to write a definition of logging for the verses in Matthew 7:1-6 I would define it as:
log
Verb
logged; logging
Definition of log
Transitive Verb
1: to remove (trees) from one’s eyes to avoid being a hypocrite while living one’s life to honor and glorify God
Clearly I should keep to reading the dictionary and not forming my own definitions.
I digress….
When I view the actions of others I view them as I think they are. When I assess my own actions I view them from what my intentions are.
When you take intentions into consideration it changes EVERYTHING.
I assume that the people closest to me know me well enough to know what my intentions are. When I am misunderstood I am shocked that they judged me in a different way.
In Matthew chapter 7 Jesus starts right off with,
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others.”
If I am going to judge myself in light of my intentions, do I not owe it to the situation, or person I am judging, to also take into consideration their intentions?
Just like the current culture, intentions can ebb and flow based on feelings and what seems right at the time.
Since I cannot always know someone’s intentions I can ALWAYS look inside myself to see where this same situation or wrong, lives within me. There are a few things that I know to be true:
I am human. I am flawed.
Friends, when I have been most offended, most irritated, most about to lose my mind with someone or something, it is almost always, hands down, when I have a log in my eye. That speck in my friends eye, my husband’s eye, my kids eye… it illuminates so glaringly bright to me while I think I can see clearly through my eyes.
When I take a breath, step back from the situation, and take it to the Lord for clarity;
that is when the log most often becomes exposed. I want to be in a place where I can help my friend with their “speck” but that is not going to happen if I don’t take the time to search my own heart, my own motives and intentions.
I have to FREQUENTLY go logging. Just like a tree that is cut down by a logger there is hard work and sometimes pain in the process. When that tree is cut and hits the ground what a different view we gain!