Some years ago a Christian doctor on a visit to a patient gave a little gospel tract to an elderly farmer. He sought to press upon the old man the great importance of his getting right with God at once, in view of the endless eternity which he was fast approaching.
The old man received it and the doctor's remarks in a kindly and apparently interested manner. But the next day when he called to see his patient, he was met by the old farmer and was surprised by his excitement. With the air of a man who was conscious of having made a real discovery, the farmer said, "The very thing for my neighbor! That little book, sir, you gave me yesterday was the very thing for my neighbor; it must have been written on purpose for him."
The poor man evidently thought his neighbor really needed salvation! He appeared not to have the faintest idea that he was equally in need of it. And truly this is the state of thousands of people in this day. Perhaps you, yourself, are of the class who think they see great spiritual need in others.
A preacher may say, "My sermon was the very thing for my congregation." His wife replies, "Yes, my dear, and for the one who preached it also." The listeners may say, "What a pity it is that our parson does not act up to what he preaches!"
Wives may see a great need in their husbands and husbands in their wives, parents in their children and children in their parents. Masters and mistresses see great shortcomings in their servants, and servants are no less quick to see the failures of those who employ them. All see and deplore the sins of their neighbors. But few—oh, how few—see their own guilty and lost condition!