Jesus Has Some Questions… About Thinking

Self Knowledge
 
I want to just share a few things about me that you may not have known.

• I am highly proficient in both Hebrew and Greek.
• My junior year of High school I was the state champ in intermediate hurdles.
• I enjoy helping Barb pull weeds.
• Thankfully, I no longer struggle with spiritual “dry spells.”

I have just made four statements that are flat out untrue. I could declare them from the mountaintops in twenty different languages or I could go on Good Morning America to speak of their correctness or I could swear on the Bible they are true, but that wouldn’t change the fact that they are not true. I could have dreamt often about them and really think they are my reality – but they are not!
 
Now, this is an extreme example of poor self-understanding and would probably be more accurately defined as delusional. Far more often we are just tempted to portray and even believe at times that we are more effective in areas of life than we really are. Or we just live lives filled with pretense and false fronts. We also choose not to listen to objective voices that could be very beneficial.
 
It is vitally important that we know ourselves accurately. This will help us in virtually all areas of life. We will operate from reality and therefore we will know truth. There are things that I am not very good at and I won’t bother creating a big list. Some things I would like to improve upon and others I couldn’t care less. At work, home and in the Church we are called to be who God made us to be – not more or less. Along with this is to challenge and encourage others to be who God truly made them to be.
 
We are so often tempted to want to be someone we are not and to listen to voices that are attempting to force us into a mold that is not God’s design for us. God’s Word clearly communicates to us who we are based on Creation, humanity’s fall into sin and the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

• We are created in the image of God with intrinsic great value.
• We are sinners saved by God’s grace.
• We are redeemed and “recreated” through Jesus and the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
  
• We are each unique and God is continually shaping us to be His child.

It is in this foundational context we can excel at self-understanding and live confident in God’s design for each of us. This doesn’t mean we will not struggle at times or be tempted to place value where it doesn’t belong. This also does not mean everything will be a piece of cake as we go from one great success to another. It does mean that God is always right and good and trustworthy.
 
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
-Romans 12.1-2
 
In Christ,
Pastor Nick