This morning, I heard a true story that affirmed something that I guess I knew all along. Well, I can’t say that I always knew it, but after my conversion and after I began to pray and study the Scriptures it became very evident to me. When I heard the story that I’m going to tell you it brought this truth back home to my mind all over again.

One afternoon an elderly couple decided that it was time to clean out their garage. While going through all the stuff that they had accumulated over the years, they found some video footage of them with their children. They both decided that it would be good to reminisce while they worked. So they turned on the video and projected it on their living room wall. On the video, there was a football game that they’re boys had participated in many years ago. The father became very indignant when he heard someone bossing his boys around. He was not near the screen and could not see who it was, but as he continued to listen he became more and more indignant. Where was I when all of this was going on? He left the garage and went into the living room to get a better understanding of what was really happening. To his surprise he saw that the man yelling at his children was him. He never thought that he could ever be that way towards his boys. As he recounted the story to his children and grandchildren he broke down in tears. The story did not include him asking for forgiveness, but I’m very positive that he did ask for forgiveness considering how remorseful he was after coming face-to-face with that side of himself that he had never seen before.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9 that our hearts are deceitful above all things. Then the profit asks who can know it? Maybe it’s because we cannot know our own hearts that it is so much easier to see the faults in others than to see our own faults. Because we do not know our own hearts, our loving heavenly father will at times allow us to see what we are really like. Sometimes he will even warn us of danger ahead as he did for the apostle Peter. Peter was very certain that he would stand with Jesus, even if it meant losing his life. Instead of using Jesus is warning as an opportunity for personal evaluation, Peter plunged headlong into the trap set for him by the enemy of souls. It is very easy for us to fall into those kinds of traps when we refuse to see ourselves the way God sees us. God loves us and his love is everlasting. This is why sometimes he has to tell us the truth even though it may hurt. Nobody likes to think of themselves in a negative way. This is why sometimes the truth does hurt. However, I want to encourage all who may be reading this including myself that God is gentle, kind and patient. His plans are to prosper us, to give us hope and a future, but the wonderful future that he is giving us does not include our character and personal defects.

I did not realize that I could be impatient at times until the five years I spent as a music teacher. When my years of teaching were over, I was pretty confident that I had learned everything I needed to know during those years about dealing with children, until baby Neville was born. It did not take long for me to realize that I have much more to learn. What about you? Have you ever had the kind of reality check as the man in the story? Has God ever had to sit you down and show you something about yourself that you had never seen before? If so, would you mind sharing? It does not have to be anything serious like the man in the story, just something about yourself that you discovered that you never knew before. This is what I call the ultimate reality check.