The Sins of Others 

   A young monk once went to an elder and told him that one of the brothers had told him about the sins of one of the other brothers.  The elder advised him not to trust the word of another in such things and the monk answered that he too had seen the sin with his own eyes.

   The elder then picked up a small straw from the ground and asked the monk what it was.  He replied that it was a straw.  The elder then touched the roof of his cell and asked, “What is this?”.  The monk answered that it was the beam holding up the roof.  At this point the elder said, “Keep remembering that your sins are like this beam and that brother’s sins are like this wisp of straw.

   I offer this rather long story for a reason.  I find it easy to notice the sins of others while taking little or no account my own.  It’s so easy to do; self-assessment is never easy.  And yet, I find it quite easy to concern myself with the sins of others.

   Jesus once said, “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?  How dare you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye’, when all the time there is a plank in your own?  Hypocrite!” (Matt: 7: 3).  I take it quite seriously when, in the eyes of my Lord, I am a hypocrite for judging others when I am full of sin myself.

   In a world full of sin, it’s so easy to become judgmental, to call out others for their sinfulness while ignoring or minimizing my own.  I pray that others will come to recognize their sins and turn from them, but it is not up to me to be their judge.  In my own life there are enough faults and sins for me to correct without looking for the sins of others.