Specks and planks

“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 7:5
Hypocrisy is a word stemming from Greek theatre, where an actor would wear a mask with two faces on it. A hypocrite is someone who is two-faced: they say one thing, and do something different. Here Jesus talks about someone with a proverbial plank in their eye, trying to take a speck (or piece of sawdust) out of someone else’s. The meaning is, if we have a major fault in our lives, we shouldn’t be trying to sort out someone who has a minor version of that fault. For example, someone who is engaging in adultery should not be counselling a couple who are going through a rough spot in their marriage.
Ideally, our lives should be becoming more and more sin-free. Those areas where we are able to have mastery over sin, are the areas where we can start to help others overcome sin in their lives. Jesus didn’t say that we have to be completely sinless before we start trying to help others, but we do need to inspect our own lives first. Remember, we are always more attuned to notice others’ sin, if that sin is something that we are still harbouring in our own hearts.