I have heard it said that you should never point a finger and find fault in another unless you are willing to be 3 times as accountable in your own life.  It’s in the same vein of the teaching of Christ when he faces his judgemental religious leaders and says, “why should you worry about the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a plank in your own eye?”

I have learned in the short time I’ve spent here on earth that when someone reaches out and complains about actions, beliefs, or words of others… the complaining person is usually at fault for something.  It’s a weird defense mechanism that kicks in where we begin to shift blame and point out the fallacies of others to keep the spotlight off of our own short comings.

No one is perfect, and we all have “issues” of some sort. And we tend to keep those things in secret… afraid to reveal that we aren’t perfect.

There is a marketing strategy that is very effective and taught to smaller companies trying to break into a market… it’s called Guerilla marketing.  Named after the small bands of warriors in 3rd world countries that embrace the fact that they are outnumbered, small, and underfunded.  They are unusually developed in that they recognize their weakness and build their attack around their strengths.  Exposing their weakness makes them aware of potential attacks and are rarely caught off guard.

In the world of marketing, underdogs are encouraged to reveal their own weakness before the competition outspends and out maneuvers them.  It seems that when you reveal your weakness and make it known, you remove angles of attack from your competition.  They can’t bully you around if you laugh and have no fear of your weakness.

Our goal as Christian men is to stop hiding our weaknesses and get them out of the secret hiding places.  Evil is crafty and loves to convince us that our weakness is shameful and beyond repair.  And when we get attacked in our achille’s heel… we lash out and begin finding faults in others.

This brings me back to where we started.  When you are pointing fingers, accusing others of improper acts, or shaming others of their behavior… aren’t you just trying to avoid the plank in your own eye?  Don’t you have enough garbage in your life that standing in self-righteous accusation is a lie?  Why do you attack and tear down?  Is it because your avoiding your own revelation of dark and hidden things in your own life?

Let’s be very honest and candid for just a moment.  For every accusation and claim you make about someone else and their behavior, you better be pretty damn certain that you are clean as a whistle. Clear enough?

Men… we are terrible at admitting fault.  We will go to the greatest length to puff up our chest and find ways to shift the focus off of our own inadequate behavior.

This is why it is so important that you have a group of guys around you that keep you in check.  I want someone to be honest with me when I’m painting myself to be a saint while my target gets lambasted with criticism.  I believe that Jesus Christ built the perfect picture of brotherhood.  You don’t surround yourself with people who give you candy coated advice… you surround yourself with honesty, integrity, and courage to speak up and keep a brother in check.

No one is perfect, we all have junk, and we will all spend our time in judgement of others from time to time.  My request of you is that you pray that God reveal the planks in your own eyes and shut your mouth when you want to criticize others.

When the chisel meets the stone… you need to recognize that the fault you may be finding in your spouse, your children, your friends, your family, your pastor, your peer group…. is actually your problem not theirs.

Confess your weakness to your brothers… go Guerilla with it.  Expose the weakness so it can’t be used against you by evil.  And when you are tempted to tear a brother down with fault… ask yourself if it bothers you becuase of your own “plank”.

As soon as we stop tearing down one another… we can change the world for Christ in a matter of days.

Peace,
Greg
Acts 4:31
Download Article