Have you noticed how easy it is to spot what's wrong with someone else? Open any news app, scroll through social media for five minutes, and you'll find people arguing over something a politician said, a celebrity did, or a pastor preached. Everyone knows what the person should have said, should have done, how they should have handled it. Some haven't even watched the full video.

It doesn't stop online. A husband can list everything his wife is doing wrong but never stops to ask how he's contributing to the distance between them. A wife can list every way her husband frustrates her but struggles to remember how she’s contributing to the distance between them. Parents see some poor attitudes in their teenagers while overlooking the part that the child learned a lot of it from watching them.

Seeing other people's faults comes naturally to us. But seeing our own…. That is where we mostly struggle.

Jesus asked a question that's just as uncomfortable today as it was two thousand years ago. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

Yes, Jesus acknowledges the speck in the brother's eye, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the man who focused on what was in someone else's eye couldn't see what was right in front of his own. That's what pride does. It gives us excellent vision for everyone else's weaknesses while blurring our own.

When the people closest to us then try to show us our areas of weakness, we hear the words, but instead of introspecting, we start building our defence. “That's not what I meant.”, “You don't understand what actually happened.”, “If you'd been through what I went through, you would have reacted the same way.”

We become defence lawyers when explaining our own behaviour, and prosecutors when explaining everyone else's, usually without even realizing it.

The Gospels tell us of a Pharisee named Simon. He had invited Jesus over for dinner. While they were eating, a woman known throughout the town for her sinful life walked in uninvited, knelt at Jesus' feet, and wept. She wiped His feet with her hair and poured expensive perfume over them.

Simon watched the whole thing and said nothing, but Luke tells us exactly what he was thinking. "If this man were really a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is." Simon had already made up his mind. He saw her sin clearly. He just couldn't see his own.

Jesus responded by telling a short story about two men who owed money. One owed a small debt, the other a very large one, but both were forgiven completely. Then He asked Simon a simple question: "Which of them will love the moneylender more?"

Simon answered, "The one who had the bigger debt forgiven." He was right. He just didn't realise Jesus wasn't only telling a story. He was also talking about the two people sitting in front of Him. The woman knew how much she had been forgiven. But Simon didn't think he needed much forgiveness at all. That was his blind spot.

So Jesus pointed out what Simon had completely missed. The woman had washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and honoured Him with expensive perfume. Simon, the host, hadn't even offered Him the ordinary acts of hospitality that were expected of a host.

Simon had no difficulty recognising someone else's wrongdoing. He just couldn't recognize what he'd failed to do. And the same is true for us today.

There's a prayer in Psalm 139 that sounds simple but takes real courage to pray. “Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there is any offensive way in me”.

David was not asking God to show him what was wrong with everyone around him. He was asking God to uncover what he himself might be missing.

It is easier to ask God to deal with the person who hurt us, the spouse who frustrates us, the colleague who is difficult, or the family member who never seems to change. It is much harder to pause and ask, “Lord, is there something in me that needs to change?”

God may answer that prayer through a verse that exposes our attitude, a conviction we can no longer ignore, or someone we trust saying something we do not want to hear. Our instinct may be to explain ourselves or point back to what the other person did.

But sometimes the correction that makes us uncomfortable is the very thing God uses to help us see clearly again.

Ask one honest question before defending yourself. The next time someone you trust points out a weakness in your life, resist the urge to explain yourself. Instead, ask, "Is there any truth in what they're saying?" Even if they haven't said it perfectly, God may still be using it to help you grow.

Spend more time asking God to search your heart than pointing out someone else's faults. Take a few quiet minutes this week to pray David's prayer in Psalm 139:23–24. Then sit with it. Don't rush on. Give God room to reveal attitudes, habits, or blind spots you're not seeing.

Replace criticism with prayer. The next time you find yourself dwelling on someone else's faults, pause and pray for them instead. Then ask God if there's anything He wants to change in your own heart. It's difficult to remain self-righteous when you're praying with humility.

Give people the same grace you hope they'll give you. Before assuming the worst about someone else, remember how often you hope others will understand your bad days, your mistakes, or your struggles. At the end of the day, we are all imperfect people learning to follow Christ. Extending grace doesn't excuse sin, but it reminds us that every one of us is still a work in progress before God.

Imagine what our marriages would look like if both husband and wife spent more time asking God to search their hearts rather than trying to change each other. Imagine our churches if people disagreed with each other and went on to pray, "Lord, show me where I'm wrong."

Imagine our families. Our friendships. Even the conversations we have online.

The world would tell you that the answer is finding more faults in the people around you. But Jesus says transformation starts somewhere else. It starts the moment we stop asking, "What's wrong with them?" and start praying, "Lord... what's still not right in me?"

Because that's where revival always begins.

Not in someone else's heart. In ours.

✝ Kingdom Mantra

If the people closest to you answered this question honestly, what would they say is your biggest blind spot? Hit reply to this email or drop a comment below if you are reading this on our website or community. I would love to hear from you and pray with you. God bless you and do have a great weekend. ❤️