Daily PresenceSample

My favorite sport has always been football. However, in the off season of 8th and 9th grade I tried my hand at wrestling. I really like it--but I was beaten badly and often. I joke that I was still shaking hands when the next thing I knew I was getting pinned. In two years, I won 1 match. But the match that sticks out the most to me was one where we went to overtime before I lost. Without being a wrestler, you might think, “how hard can it be to wrestle 3 periods (2 minutes each) and then one over time?” All I can tell you was that I was angry that I didn’t win…and I was angry that I didn’t get pinned! I was exhausted. I discovered what other, better wrestlers knew—it may look like less than 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity of full speed sprinting with my whole body. When I see wrestlers, I know a bit of what they go through. What might appear to be laying on the mat is instead an intense battle involving every muscle exerting itself. I remember that struggle and some of what it takes just to be there. When Jesus tells us to take the plank out of our eyes before helping someone over a speck in their eye, it’s easy to get the idea. The sin in my life should be a bigger deal to me than the sin I see in your life. If I truly address something in my life, it’s going to teach me some things about humility, challenges, feelings of failure and of victory. To confront my sin and bring it to Jesus should create those feelings and others. Gratitude to the Lord first and foremost. However, if I don’t really grasp just how devastating my sin truly is then it will be easy to judge others in their struggle. It doesn’t mean that we excuse people for how they act, but if I have no compassion towards others when I know the struggles myself, then I have to ask myself why? Was my battle so easy that I don’t understand why it’s hard for you? Have I forgotten that my sin was just as much reason for the cross as yours? Or is it possible maybe I haven’t worked on getting my plank out of my eye yet?