Sounds like an oxymoron statement – looking inward with your eyes. Not to be confused with being centered around ourselves, looking inward is taking a personal inventory on how we are aligning with God’s Word. Looking around only causes distractions to our focus.

The stage was set. The lights were perfect. The little girls came out in their dance costumes for their first recital. I clapped for my daughter as they began to dance. She had done so well in practice and knew all her moves. She prided herself on it. Yet, when the time of the performance came, she didn’t do most of her moves. Instead, she was telling the other girls where to go, how to step, and what to do instead of simply focusing on what she needed to focus on – her own moves.

She was looking around instead of focusing on the task she had intended to perform.

Are you looking around at other people and how they’re acting and letting that affect your relationship with God and your service to Him? It’s easy for us to point out what others aren’t doing right and dwell on it. It’s also easy for us to overlook our own faults.

Look inward in this moment at your relationship with Christ. Are you focusing on what you need to do for Him? Or is there a critical spirit within you watching other people’s mishaps? We can be encouraging to others, of course, but when you point out the speck in someone else’s eye, just remember to check your own eye for planks. Spend some intentional time with the Lord today and focus on His will in your life.

Matthew 7:1-5. Psalm 119:15-16. Deuteronomy 6:5. 1 Corinthians 15:58.

©️Rachel D. Lyne