I SEE NAIL PEOPLE – Mar. 27

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye.  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3

 

It’s Not About the Nail (This post will make more sense if you watch this video first)

I see nail people walking around like regular people. They go through life seeing only what they want to see. They don’t know that they have a nail sticking out of their forehead. (I See Dead People)

I am a nail fixer.

I want to pull these nails that plague nail people’s lives.
I see the logical consequences of nails.
I am saddened by the blindness to their nail.
I don’t like to talk about nails.
I find little benefit in dwelling upon nails.
I just want to pull nails and be done with it.
I am frustrated by damage that never needed to have happened.
I mourn the inevitable results of nail blindness.

I am a nail fixer.

Yet, those who I try to fix are often scratched and scared by my efforts.
Often, my frustration only makes the original snag worse.
Frequently, the force of my pull on the nail acts more like a hammer.
The fruit of my nail fixing can logically mean only one thing…

I am a nail person.

My nail is the nail of  “I”.
We all have nails that we are blind to; a blindness that God often allows.
A nail of  “I”  supplants the sovereignty, grace and mercy of God.
None of us have been called to indiscriminately pull nails in our blindness.

We have been called to love our brothers and sisters as ourselves.

In that love, the personal nail of  “I” is bereft.
In that love, we may be called to help pull a nail.
In that love, we may be called to hold a hand through obvious consequence.
In that love, we may be called to pray in silence.

In that love, we are always called to glorify God.
In that love, we are always called to trust in God’s sovereignty.

In that love, we allow our personal nail of  “I” to fade into the great “I AM”.

PRAYER: Father, you know that I am a blind fool.  You know the log of “I” that has blinded me for so long. Lord, remove the log from my own eye.  Help me to love others as myself.  Enable me to love without the plague of my nail.  I want you to be glorified in all that I do.  Forgive me of the times that I have only made things worse.  I want to see beyond myself.  Teach me how to focus on you and thereby love the ones you have called me to love.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen