Chan Gailey

The Buffalo Bills played a terrible football game recently. Though they led 21-7 at one point, they eventually were clobbered by the New England Patriots by a score of 52-28. Buffalo coach Chan Gailey commented: “I don’t like to play like that, and I don’t like to think that’s who we are. But that’s who we were today. You can’t sugarcoat it.”

Sometimes our attempts to follow Christ fall woefully short—even to the point of embarrassment. There is no use trying to sugarcoat it. We need to be honest with ourselves, even if it is painful to do so.

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”—James 1:23-25.