So, About That Plank in Your Eye... | The Gospels | Matthew 7:1–6
October 6, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readSo, About That Plank in Your Eye... | The Gospels | Matthew 7:1–6
A group of hikers in Montana set out for a perfect July day to climb Granite Peak, the state's highest point at about 12,800 feet. One of them, David, a wound care nurse from Billings, took a short fall onto his own trekking pole. The spike went in under his left arm, through the front of his chest, and out through his back. He was impaled. His friends had a satellite device and could have called for a helicopter rescue. But David, drawing on his wound care experience, assessed the situation himself. The bleeding was minimal. The pain was minimal. So they radioed the ground team, told them they would make their own way down, and drove straight to the hospital once they reached the trailhead. Ten miles of downhill trekking later, the pole was safely removed. David later said the only time he really felt pain was when the doctor finally took it out.
The Plank and the Splinter
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:10) **The Trekking Pole Story as an Opening Metaphor** - Tanya introduces a bizarre hiking accident to set up the episode’s central tension
- 2 (03:36) **Jesus’ Two Shocking Illustrations in the Sermon on the Mount** - The passage (Matthew 7:1–6) uses a plank-in-the-eye and pearls-before-pigs to describe life in the new kingdom
- 3 (05:16) **Who Jesus Was Talking To: The Pharisees and Our Own Tendency** - Jesus named the scribes and Pharisees in chapter 5, but the warning applies to all of us
- 4 (06:15) **Moral Math Is Inconsistent Across Cultures** - A Pew survey shows how comparative judgment varies wildly between countries
- 5 (07:42) **The Second Illustration: Don’t Throw Pearls to Pigs** - A strange warning that initially sounds like a judgment call about who should hear the gospel
- 6 (08:58) **The Gospel Is Worth More Than Inconsistent Morals** - The good news is that Jesus lived a perfect life in our place
- 7 Standout Quotes
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Why are we so quick to see other people’s problems? What does Jesus mean when he tells us not to judge? And what should we do with the “plank” in our own eye? In today’s episode, Tanya explains how Matthew 7:1–6 calls us to stop comparing ourselves to others and let Jesus deal with what’s broken in us.
Want to become a more consistent Bible reader? Download our free Ten Minute Bible Guide and start building a simple, sustainable habit of meeting with God through his word. Grab your guide here.
Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now.
Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.
Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you!
To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks.
Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here.
Passage: Matthew 7:1–6
More from this podcast
Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study →