Lesson 1, Devotion 1
“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? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Luke 6:41-42
From the early 1980s through the 1990s, Korean Air had a terrible safety record. It was so bad that for a time U.S. Department of Defense employees were banned from flying on Korean Air. Then, Korean Air hired David Greenberg, a retired Vice President of Delta, to improve their safety record and their overall operations. Greenberg identified several major issues, but one was surprising. In Korean Air cockpits pilots regularly ignored warnings from co-pilots. In Korean culture authority is extremely important, so pilots interpreted correction from co-pilots as damaging their authority. They were committing major safety violations simply because they would not listen to correction.
Read Luke 6:41-42, the passage you studied in Bible study 2 weeks ago. As you read, notice that Jesus doesn’t say “Don’t remove the speck from your brothers eye.” He says “Make sure you are seeing clearly when you do.” We all need correction from time to time. This happens best in a relationship of accountability when both people are genuinely trying to help each other. It’s good to help a friend see his or her sin and remove it when you are motivated by authentic love for him or her, and not attempting to make yourself look better.
Just like these Korean pilots needed their co-pilots to call them out, we also need people in our lives to gently and lovingly call us out on our sin. Sometimes we need help removing specks and planks.
Today, pray that God would bring someone into your life that can hold you accountable. Maybe you already know who that should be. If so, invite that person to be your accountability partner. Give him or her permission to ask you tough questions and to help you identify sinful habits in your life.