Five years ago our rose bush was covered with buds─Donn counted 50 or more. As the blooms opened, it was a beautiful sight. I was thrilled every time I looked at it. Then last week, I noticed little red spots on some of the blooms. I immediately Googled to find out what was causing the problem.

Different sites talked about a lethal disease that caused these spots on rose blooms, but all of them insisted the disease also affected the leaves. I was puzzled since I was sure the leaves of our rose bush were unaffected. However, when I checked again to reassure myself, I discovered the upper leaves were fine. But hidden under the luscious blooms and glossy leaves, closer to the ground, were yellowed leaves and leaves with ugly black spots.

Donn and I had been so enthralled with all the buds and blossoms that we failed to notice the deadly disease that required closer examination to detect.

Our first foster son, age six or so, would sometimes say to us, “So, what’s your point?” It always got a laugh, but it’s a question I ask myself every week when writing my blog: “What’s your point, Daisy?” My point today is that we may become so dazzled by the “blooms” of our lives, the things that make us look good to others, whether it be ministry, service, or good deeds, that we find ourselves living “unexamined lives.” Socrates is given credit for having said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I’m not sure exactly what he meant by that statement, but to me, the unexamined life is a life lived by a Christian so busy “doing” that no time is spent looking into the mirror of God’s Word. No time is taken to listen and pray for God to examine his/her heart and life. Meanwhile the disease of sin gains ground, and we are completely unaware. 

After reading I Corinthians 13, the author of The Cross and the Switchblade, David Wilkerson, said he looked into the mirror and saw a man who was “easily provoked.” (V. 5 (Love) is not easily provoked.) The mirror of God’s Word had shown him something about himself of which he was unaware, something he needed to allow God to change.

When I say we need to “look into the mirror of God’s Word,” I’m not talking about reading the Bible to prepare for preaching or teaching a message, Bible Study or Sunday School class. I heard about a pastor who went for counsel after having become involved in an affair. The counselor asked him, “How did it happen? How did you go from having a close walk with the Lord to having an affair?” The fallen pastor said, “All my time in God’s Word became preparation for ministry. I no longer had time to seek God for my own needs. My heart was empty and when the temptation came to fill it in other ways, I yielded.”

James 1:23-24 says, “Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away immediately and forgets what he looks like.” So even when we spend time in God’s Word for our own needs, we have the choice of whether or not we will act on what we read. But if we have the attitude of King David in Psalms 139:23-24, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to point out the disease of sin before it ruins the beauty of our “blooms.” (KJV says “wicked way,” but I like this translation better since we are easily convinced that wicked does not apply to us.)

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps. 139:23-24)