"How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:4
But is it not a kindness to a friend to take the speck out of his eye? If we met a neighbor with a speck in his eye, would it not be a brotherly thing to stop and take it out for him? Then why is it not just as true a kindness to want to cure another's fault — even though we have the same fault ourselves? If we did it in the right spirit — it would be. We are bound to seek the welfare of our friends in every possible way, and therefore, if we discover in them things which mar their beauty — we should seek the removal of those things.
But the trouble is, that we are not apt to look at our neighbor's faults in this loving and sympathetic way. To begin with, we do not know, or at least we do not confess — that we ourselves have planks in our own eyes; we are not even aware that there are specks in our own eyes! It is the self-righteous spirit that our Lord is here condemning. A man holds up his hands in horror at the blemish he has found in his neighbor's character; and his neighbor, looking up, sees in him an immensely magnified copy of the blemish! Will the neighbor be greatly benefitted by the rebuke?
Suppose a bad-tempered man lectures us on the sin of giving way to bad temper; or a dishonest man on some apparent lack of honesty; or a liar on the wickedness of falsehood; or a bad-mannered man on some discourtesy of ours; or a hypocrite on insincerity — what good will such lectures do, even admitting that we are conscious of the faults? We are only irritated by the unfitness of such rebukes — from those in whom the faults are ten times greater than in us! We wonder how people can have the face to talk about the specks in our eyes — when huge planks project from their own eyes. Truly this is not the way to tell others of their faults.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.