Removing the blog, er... LOG from my own eye :-)

There has been some teaching at my church that is making me itch! I don't like being told what to do, so fear of this teaching leading to that is causing me to feel very critical. (scritch-scratch!) I don't want to back away simply to avoid controversy, but I also don't feel anywhere near equipped to be a spokesperson for a Biblical cause.

My first step is to pray to God to reveal to me where I am wrong and to grant me patience and a listening heart.

Is this the way you interpret Luke 6:42, i.e., removing the plank from your own eye prior to removing a speck from another's? A wise elder woman taught it to me this way several years ago when I thought this meant I had to be blameless before I helped another sister in sin. She told me I should wait to speak until God reveals all the incorrect assumptions I've made (mostly by listening both to the other party and the Word) then to speak, but with a "listening heart."

I stood to speak at the first lesson this week, but a little tug in my memory brought me back to the words of this woman and I simply asked a harmless clarifying question instead.

Hopefully I am completely wrong in my own understanding of this scripture or in my understanding of their teaching - and all my worry is moot. ;-)

Can I?

"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." 1 Peter 2:23