I can see your issues but not mine

2 Samuel 12:5-7a   5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”  7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

I’ve gotta tell you David, you walked right into that one.  Word to the wise: if a prophet comes to you with an obscure story asking for advice, it might be a setup.  Poor David, caught in his sin – sin that he thought would remain a secret.  Sin that he thought would just go away over time.  If he only would have realized that sin doesn’t do that.  It doesn’t go away, it just grows.

What I see in today’s scripture is a human epidemic.  It is a disease called: I can see your sin but not mine.  How easily David called the man in Nathaniel’s story out on the carpet.  How quickly he was ready with a fitting punishment.  “Justice must prevail,” was David’s cry.  But what if you are the one who needs the justice?  It changes things, doesn’t it, when those shoes are on your feet.

Maybe this is why Jesus told us to take a look at the giant beam of wood called sin in our lives before we start pointing out other people’s slivers.   We so quickly want others to drink from the cup of judgment while we sip from our cup of grace.  If we are going to grow to be like Christ, we must first assess our own hearts.  We must do our best to stand clean before our God and spend less time focusing on the sins of others.  We’ve probably got enough things of our own to work on, anyways.