Minute Musings...Your Own Beam

I would like to take a moment today and look at Matthew 26:69 - 75.  In this passage we
find Peter waiting with the crowds outside the palace while the Lord is being interrogated
and beaten.

"Now Peter sat without in the palace:  and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou
also wast with Jesus of Galilee.  But he denied before them all, saying, I know not
what thou sayest.  And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him,
and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.  And after a while came
unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them;
for thy speech betrayeth thee.  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I
know not the man.  And immediately the cock crew.  And Peter remembered the
words of Jesus which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice.  And he went out, and wept bitterly."

Upon reading these verses we tend to judge Peter rather harshly.  I would like you to
take a moment however and consider some things.  Firstly, yes, Peter was in the wrong
for what he did, what I'm going to say does not dispute this fact.  We like to think that
had it been us in this situation, we would have stood by the Lord no matter what.  That
is what Peter had thought earlier.  But would we?  Would we have stood faithfully amidst
chaos, enemy soldiers, swords and certain death?  Like you, I would like to think I would
have.  But in all honesty take a look at how we handle situations from day to day?  Do
we speak out when we hear our Blessed Saviors name taken in vain?  Do we take a stand
against the evils that surround us in the work place, schools, even in our neighborhoods
and homes?  Do we remain silent, or perhaps even smile at crude jokes...just so we don't
stand out as different?  Do we honestly have a right to judge Peter's actions that horrific
night in light of our own failures to stand true to the Lord? 

Jesus Himself had a lot to say in the Gospels about our judgment of others.  Matthew
7:3-5  "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
consider not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy
brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold a beam is in
thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye."

I urge you today to follow Peter's example in the last 7 words of this passage, "And
he went out, and wept bitterly."  Peter took his eyes off of the Lord and focused on
the frightening circumstances around him.  Isn't this what happens to us?  We become
overwhelmed with trials and our eyes leave the Lord and we focus on the problem...
then we fail the Lord.  Before we take it upon ourselves to stand in sanctimonious
judgement upon others, take a good hard, honest look at our own sin...and repent!  
Spend your time and energy taking care of your own beam and getting right with God!