LET’S BE WILLING TO
LOOK IN THE MIRROR
Possibly
the greatest of human character traits is the virtue of HONESTY. Indeed, honesty is the
first cousin of integrity (wholeness) since our ability to objectively evaluate
ourselves is an open portal to personal healing. It’s important to note
that divine favor resides at the intersection of honesty and humility.
Undoubtedly,
it is easier to point fingers at the faults of others. In truth, we all
have clay feet. Which means that each of us has a ledger of faults,
failures, foibles and fiascoes for which we must account to ourselves, and
ultimately be judged by our Creator.
The
Word of God clearly instructs us on this matter, in both the words of the
Apostle Paul and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, respectively:
--Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest
you also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)
--And why do you
look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your
own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck
from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will
see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)
These
powerful words remind me of a biographical account I read in James McPherson’s
“Drawn with the Sword.” (Oxford University Press, 1996) It summarized the
life of James Hammond, who was a famous plantation owner, a slaver, a
congressman and a governor, but was also the epitome of SELF-DECEPTION.
It is a
well-documented historical fact that Mr. Hammond blatantly abused his power in
order to satisfy his sexual perversions. In 1839, he purchased an
18-year-old slave named Sally, making her his concubine and fathering many
children by her. Then when Sally’s daughter turned twelve, he also made
her his concubine and fathered children by her.
Not content with
sexual escapades with his slaves, he also sexually abused his sister’s four
daughters. Eventually,
Hammond’s evil ways caught up with him and his brother-in-law threatened to
publicly reveal the sexual assaults on his daughters if he did not resign from
political office. Hammond’s wife left him, and most of his livestock died
as a result of epidemic animal diseases.
Nevertheless, James
Hammond was unbelievably blind to the error of his ways. Here is what he
wrote in his diary. “It crushes me to see everything of mine so blasted
around me. My Negroes, cattle, mules, hogs, everything around me seems to
labor under some ill-fated malediction. Great God, what have I done? Never was a man so cursed!”
Astonishing, isn’t
it? However, Mr. Hammond’s story might in some ways be similar to our
own. While it is effortless and easy to microscope the sins and
shortcomings of others, it is a challenging thing to visualize our own
errors. Prayerfully consider that personal possibility.
The scriptures
admonish EVERY MAN to
carefully “examine himself” and to “examine his own work.” (I Corinthians 11:28
– Galatians 6:4) To wit, we must not “judge” others. (Matthew 7:1) That
is, we must be ready, willing and able to gaze into the mirror of God’s Word
and evaluate ourselves – from our Creator’s point of view.
Point to Ponder:
How long has it been since you have ‘seen’ yourself?
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