About a hundred years ago, the world’s most respected astronomer, Sir Percival Lowell, learned from his study that there were canals on Mars. He was convinced that the canals were a sure sign that there was life on the Red Planet.
There was no reas
on to doubt the esteemed Scientist. Everyone believed in Martians through the early 20th Century. But now, since space probes have landed on Mars, the entire surface has been mapped out. There are no canals! And there are no Martians!
How could Lowell have been so wrong? He did, after all, see the canals. How could he see what wasn’t there?
Percival Lowell suffered from a rare eye disease that made him see the blood vessels in his own eyes. The canals he saw and the Martians he envisioned were nothing more than the bulging veins in his own eyeballs! Today, the disease is called “Lowell’s Syndrome”.
Jesus warns us that “in the same way we judge others, we will be judged.” With humorous hyperbole, he said that looking at the speck of sawdust in another’s eye, we miss seeing the log in our own eyes. Too often we think we have a ringside view of the shortcomings of others, when in fact our vision is distorted by our own disease.
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1, 2 NASB)
It’s a great analogy for how we see the world around us through our own distorted perceptions.