Matthew 7:4-5 “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.O Lord, we are experts at judging others – or so we think. We can quickly size a person up and strip him down. We can hurl opinions at him of what we think he should do. We condemn the inadequacies we see in him. It is so easy to be self-righteous and unfair with a critical spirit.

We are quick to see the sins of others and so slow to see our own. Forgive us for such a fallacy in ourselves. Help us to remove the log of criticism from our eyes and develop a spirit that is like that of Jesus who told the truth but was compassionate about it. Remind us that we do not have all the facts that cause a person to be the way he is. If we understood what life has done to that person, we would be more gracious like Jesus. Forbid that we should play the hypocrite and stigmatize others by the failures in ourselves.

Amen.