The other day we spent some time together. When I was walking out of the room, I turned to her and said, "Hey, keep 'em all straight around here." She looked at me, laughed, and said, "Tell you what. I'll just focus on keeping me straight."
What a great response. And what a fantastic motto to live by. "I'll just focus on keeping me straight."
There's an old German proverb that states, "Sweep in front of your own door." That means deal with your own issues and clean up your own messes rather than fixating on your neighbor's issues and messes. We're to focus on keeping ourselves straight rather than obsess with keeping others straight.
Jesus talked about this before. In Matthew 7:5, He said "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Did you catch His point? Deal with your own matters first before you begin addressing other people about theirs.
The older I get, the more I feel the exact same way. I find myself minding my own business more, and monitoring other people less. The way I see it, I've got my own struggles, weaknesses, and tendencies to deal with. I'm not perfect and I'm not qualified (or even want to) sit around and tear down other people. I'd rather focus on becoming a better man myself.
It seems to me we all would be wise to deal with ourselves first before we even think about getting into the business of carrying on about the flaws of other people. That's what Jesus wants us to do. And that may, in the long run, help each of us to become more and more of the men and women God wants us to be.
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