Daily Devotional
Luke 6:42-44 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.
Rather than focus your energy on trying to get others to change, start with changing yourself. Jesus gave three (3) reasons why we should start with changing ourselves in Luke 6:42-44. The first reason given by Jesus is that it is hypocritical to tell others to change without first addressing our own faults. What would make it worse is if our fault is a like beam – larger and more visible than the other person we are trying to change. In addressing that point Jesus said, “how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
The second reason given by Jesus why we should start by changing ourselves is that when we first change, we are better positioned to give pointers to others as to how they too can do what we did. Jesus said in “cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.”
The third reason given by Jesus why we should start by changing ourselves is that the harvest that we receive is primarily determined by our own thoughts and actions, not that of other people. In making the point Jesus said in Luke 6:44 that “every tree is known by his own fruit”. What Jesus was communicating was that if the harvest that you are seeing is not good, it is because your tree is faulty. To change your harvest therefore, you must first change your tree by changing your thoughts and actions. From that perspective it should become clear that going out there and trying to change others will not do much to change the harvest you receive. Real change will start by changing your response.
Life Application: To change your life outcomes, start with changing you by assessing where you may be going wrong and then adopting new ways of thinking and actions proven to produce the outcome you want.
Prayer: Search my heart oh God and reveal things about me that are not according to will. Help me to make the changes that are needed first before pointing out the faults in others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Devotional 
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