A Shared Journey
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? 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)
It is not easy for humans to see clearly. All of us have trouble accepting the fact that we are fallen beings and are therefore capable of misreading things.
Somehow because of the Fall, it is easier for me to see what’s wrong with you than to see what’s wrong with me. Did you ever notice how much easier it is to see another person’s fault than your own? Perhaps we don’t want to admit our fallenness because we don’t know where to get help. However, we have been given substantial help, so if we continue in our blindness, it is our own fault.
First of all, we have been offered the Holy Spirit, who wants to live in us and transform us from the inside out. He wants to straighten out the crookedness, the twistedness inside you and me. We also have the Scriptures, which give us the picture of what a human person is supposed to be the example of the Lord Jesus. We are to walk as he walked.
A third help is one we so often miss: each other. Why can we not come to each other and say, “Help save me from myself?” We need to give thanks that God has given us each other. I need you, and I need you to help save me from me.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we who call ourselves Christians wanted so desperately to please our Lord and were so interested in his cause that we would open our hearts to each other concerning family, finances, discipline, integrity, and a host of other things, asking, “How can I do it better?” If I would do that, I would find, perhaps to my surprise, that you are my friend and my help. That would help me to be a better Christian, and my relationship with you would be a more effective witness than any of us alone can ever give.
—Dennis Kinslaw
This Day with the Master
This is a truth we fully embrace at Sanctuary Clinics: We were not made to be in isolation, but rather we were created to be in relationship with others, in community. Have you ever noticed that one of the most prevalent symptoms of just about every mental illness and addiction is isolation? What a tool in the hand of the enemy, to isolate us from the love and support of community! While it is true that we all need to humbly approach helping others, i.e. examining the plank in our own eye before attempting to remove the splinter in someone else’s, we must come to the realization that we do indeed need one another. Surely you’ve heard to popular song Lean on Me, written by Bill Withers (and recorded by a slew of artists since). Withers wrote the song when he’d relocated to Los Angeles California and desperately missed the close-knit community of his West Virginia hometown. We live in a world today that is becoming increasingly isolated. We’re trading face-to-face with digital interactions, trading reality for virtual reality, and utilizing more apps and services to replace personal encounters. The enemy must be rejoicing. Let us buck the trend. Let’s embrace community anew; recognize the importance of others in our lives, and the importance of our being in others’ lives. Growing closer to God happens as we grow closer to one another. Reach out. Grow. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics