My hairdresser shared with me an incidence in her life. Her daughter was struggling at school and it was felt she might be dyslectic. The problem was the daughter was frightened to take the test. Her mother, my hairdresser, offered also take the test alongside her. The results showed that the daughter was not dyslectic but the mother was! This result was quite unexpected as she had passed all her hairdresser exams with flying colours.
This immediately reminded me of the teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. Jesus showed a sense of humour here. Obviously no-one can have a plank in their own eye, but Jesus contrasted it with the piece of sawdust in the brother’s eye. The sawdust is the smallest piece of a splinter you can have. The plank is impossible and ridiculous. But it does show up how hypocritical we can be as we are so blind to our own faults. We have no difficulty in seeing where others are going wrong, while at the same time we’re rushing down the same path..