MIRRORS NOT MICROSCOPES

Today's reading: 1 Timothy 4-6

"Keep a close watch on yourself and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right, and God will save you and those who hear you." 1 Timothy 4:16 NLT

We live in a fault-finding society. One filled with finger-pointing and blame-placing. One in which we are always looking at the faults of others, but not seeing the inadequacies in ourselves.

That's not what Paul asks Timothy to do in this letter.

Paul recommends using a mirror to change the world, not a microscope.

He asks Timothy, and us, to look deeply at our own actions and deeds to see where we need to be changed.

He instructs Timothy to begin with the only one any of us can call into account--ourselves.

Here is the challenge I am accepting for myself today: I want to see my role in the circumstances, good and bad, that occur around me...what have I brought on myself, what have I fed, what have I played a part in--and how can I continue or make amends.

Staying true and doing what is right is up to us individually. And to do it the way God asks us to do it? It takes a mirror!