I Have Removed The Plank From My Own Eye

I drove into the campus at eleven o'clock. Since I had no class in the morning, I was not rushing. I decided to drop into KC's office to tell her about my endodontic treatment at the Melaka Hospital and to inform her that I had not been able to buy passion fruits for her in Batu Pahat.

When I knocked and entered the room, KC's office mate AG was talking to her. I sat down in front of KC and said to AG,

"Sorry for the disturbance. Please go on with your conversation."

So AG continued her story. It was again about giving! She had persuaded her husband to donate RM300 to a hospice. At first he was reluctant. The day he finally agreed, he won a golf championship later in the afternoon. The first prize was a brand new refrigerator. They already had one at home and AG's husband remembered that a good friend of his who had recently moved into a new house had mentioned that he was short of a refrigerator! The couple happily gave the present to the friend who was not well-to-do.

"I told my husband," AG concluded, "that when we give, we'll receive even more."

"And when we give something good," I added my comment, "God will reward us with something better." And both of us cited more examples of nice clothes and jewellery that we had been more willing to let go to bless others.

I suddenly understood why I was there at that hour. I told AG and KC, "I think God has sent me here to listen to stories of giving again." Then I gave a brief account of Ps Teo's sermon at Berean AOC the previous day.

I also asked AG whom I knew was an Anglican, "Have your husband accepted the Lord?"

"He has been following me to church for seventeen years. But he has not made up his mind to get baptized."

"Never mind, just pray for him. God will open his heart more and more."

"Once my daughter even talked to him with a grave face, 'Daddy, we're all saved except for you. It's time you seriously thought about committing yourself to Jesus because we want to see you with us in heaven!'."

Many unbelievers in our families or among our friends are very irritated by our preaching of the Gospel. They do not understand that actually the main reason of our fervent sharing is that we want to see them in heaven!

I used to have an unreasonable dislike of AG's diplomatic behavior, especially after some misunderstandings. Even though I still talked to her, I had never shown her true friendship.

While listening to AG that morning, I recalled what Jesus had said during the last supper, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 NKJV)

God also reminded me, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5 NKJV) Now when I looked at AG again after removing the prejudice from my own eye, I found her such a loving sister in Christ.

As Jesus has loved me, I will also love AG, so that one day our unbeliever colleague KC's heart will be touched by the light of Christ's glory in us.