Take a Closer Look

Admitting your own flaws, facing up to the reality that we each have chinks in our armour, taking responsibility for them, is incredibly difficult. Yet if we don't, they'll get us into a world of trouble.

Piero de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was the richest man in Florence. But unlike his wise father, young Piero ignored the warnings and overestimated his charm. So in 1494, he handed Florence over to the invading French without a fight.

The people turned on him. He was exiled, disgraced, and forgotten. He never stopped to ask, "What am I doing wrong?" Pride blinded him. And pride … well, it always has the last word.

That pride-induced inability that we each have to see, own, and deal with our innate failings can, without doubt, lead us into major blunders in our lives too. And if not major blunders, then a string of mistakes that'll conspire to rob us of the life we could have lived, the impact on this world we could have had. So …

2 Corinthians 13:5 Look closely at yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are living in the faith. Don't you realise that Christ Jesus is in you? Of course, if you fail the test, he is not in you.

Is today perhaps the day to take a closer look at yourself, to test yourself? Am I really who I think I am? Am I really living for Jesus? Is He really the Lord of my life … or am I kidding myself?

It never hurts to take a closer look.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.