. Motes and Beams by J. R. Miller There is a duty of
fault-finding. The Master Himself teaches it.
In the Sermon on the Mount, He makes it very plain. We must
note carefully, however, where the duty begins. We are to look
first after our own fault. Why do you look at the mote that
is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that
is in your own eye? We must consider the beam that
is in our own eye. The form of this question suggests
that we are naturally inclined to pay more attention to flaws
and blemishes in others than in ourselves, and also that a
very small fault, a mere mote of fault in another person, may
seem larger to us than a blemish many times greater in ourselves. Of course, it is far easier to
see other people's faults than our own. Our eyes are set in
our head in such a way that we can look at our neighbor better
than at ourselves. Yet we all have faults of our
own. Most of us have quite enough
of them to occupy our thought to the exclusion of our neighbor's
faults, if only we would give them our attention. Really, too,
our own faults ought to interest us more than our neighbors, because
they are our own, and being our own, we are responsible for them. We do not have to answer for
any other one's sins, but we must answer for our own sins. Each one must give an account
of himself. Also, the responsibility for
getting rid of them is ours. No faithful friend, no wise teacher
can cure our faults for us. If ever they are taken out of
our life, it must be by our own faith, our own firm, persistent
effort. It is a fact that the faults
which we usually see and criticize in others are the very faults
which are the most marked in us. in our judgment of others,
we show a miniature of ourselves. If this is true, we should be
careful in judging others, for in doing so we are only revealing
our own faults. This should lead us also to close
scrutiny of our own life, to get rid of the things in us which
are not beautiful.