Count your own buttons first

When I went to church on Sunday, I got a most extraordinary but yet the simplest of insights of what Christ once taught, not from the direct preaching of the pastor, but rather from what he wore.

As is normal with many pastors when they preach, they often move around the pulpit and sometimes draw within inches of their audience. This was the case today. As the pastor preached, he slowly advanced towards his listeners such that he was at arm’s length from those in the front row.

This was an unusual Sunday for me as I usually occupied the corner seat in the last row every Sunday. But today I sat on the third row from the front because I had arrived quite early and gave in to the usher’s beckoning to occupy and fill the front rows first. And now, during the preaching, I was so close to the pastor that I could pick out every detail of his attire. Suddenly, one particular item caught my attention – one of the buttons on his coat was broken…

I thought, “Oh my! This is Sunday! Everybody’s here, including visitors! Furthermore, he is video recording the message! Surely with all his array of pleasant attires to choose from, he could have done better, couldn’t he?” I was in disbelief.

But as the service went on the pastor quoted a certain Scripture, so I had to bow my head to follow the reference in my Bible. Then suddenly, once again, something else caught my attention, but this time twice as much! As I bowed my head, I realized that my shirt was missing a button… But this wasn’t the fact that struck me. I fully knew I had been missing a button. What hit me was the fact that I had reprimanded my pastor for just a broken button, yet I was missing an entire one. Even worse, I had worn the same shirt in the same condition the previous Sunday when I attended another church.

I was concerned about the pastor’s broken button oblivious to the fact that I had a bigger problem, I lacked an entire one. I was quick to spot his fault because I was quicker at forgetting my own unattended one. My sinful conscious was so numb that I had not only momentarily forgotten I was missing a button, but that I had repeatedly worn the shirt knowingly, and yet criticized someone for just a broken button.

This reminded me of a section in the classic Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:3-5, where Christ cautioned His listeners about judging others, He said,

“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Notice the term Christ uses to describe such a person, He plainly calls him a “hypocrite”! So today, besides the sermon the pastor preached, I learned that I should be careful to count my own missing buttons first, before I ever think about subtracting fractions from other people’s broken ones. I suggest you do the same, lest Christ calls you names….