HONESTY WITH

OURSELVES

By Dr. Brett Snowden, Pastor Progressive Community Baptist Church

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 1 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)

At the beginning of a new year many people develop promises, resolutions and goals. Oftentimes these virtues are centered on materialism. What is usually absent from our promises, resolutions and goals are character and integrity issues. We seek to be captives of the culture and reflectors of the trends of time leaving God out of the equation. I believe, in order to make the journey successful, each of us is challenged by God’s Word to take an honest look at ourselves.

“Know thyself,” was the inscription on the temple of Apollo at ancient Delphi. Accurate knowledge of self is very important as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel requires repentance and repentance requires conscience. Conscience requires self-knowledge, which literally means “to know with (ourselves).”

In one sense, we each know ourselves best. Others know our thoughts, motives, and values only as we reveal them. One lifetime is just too short to reveal ourselves entirely to anyone else. Hence, the information upon which others judge us is at best incomplete -- and often it is inaccurate.

Yet it is true that we are sometimes the very poorest judges of ourselves. We may have all the "raw materials" out of which we could make an accurate self-evaluation. However, rarely are we sufficiently candid and objective about our own situation. This is why, for example, doctors do not diagnose their own ailments -- they understand the need to consult another doctor who will look at the facts more straightforwardly.

In the spiritual realm, there is an even greater need for us to be helped in understanding ourselves. We tend to make exceptions of ourselves and "euphemize" the nature of our own conduct. When it comes to seeing our own faults, most of us have blind spots -- what is plain as day to others can be invisible to us. Ultimately what we need to do is see ourselves as God sees us. God's way of helping us is often to send friends to show us that what we are pleased to call our "mistakes" are just as much sins as if someone else had committed them.

Salvation depends on our response to truth. The truth which must be loved is not merely doctrinal truth -- it involves the whole truth, including the truth about ourselves, and the truth about the sins that we need to repent. Cf. 1 John 1:8-10. In order to be adequately honest with ourselves, we must want to know the truth more than we want anything else. The person who loves his preferred self-image more than the truth is not fit for the kingdom of God. Jesus' story of the Pharisee praying in the temple shows how out of touch with reality we can be when it comes to ourselves. Cf. Luke 18:9-14.

God knows us perfectly; the question is do we genuinely love His truth? May we never "turn away" from the truth about ourselves. May God give us families and friends who will gently help us "come to our senses" about what is really going on in our lives. May we be truly honest with ourselves -- and therefore truly honest with God -- before it is too late.