Self-awareness

<<recognising who we are>>

Through self-examination and reflection, people can gain an honest, accurate self-assessment of their personality by considering strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation and emotions (Gal 6:4). This, in turn, allows them to understand how they are perceived by others and their own attitudes and responses towards them.

From such self-discovery we can act intentionally to make changes in our behaviour and beliefs in order to develop godly character rather than reacting passively or from habit. The intent is not to judge and condemn ourselves when we make mistakes or allow past patterns to limit our

Will I address the unacceptable areas in my life I have identified?

potential; rather it is to use these times as opportunities to learn from and to correct our faults, leading to a healthy self-acceptance and growth in

righteousness.

A realistic assessment involves recognising that we are sinners in need of salvation, and if we weren’t believers would be headed to a Christ-less eternity. When saved, our life is “hidden with Christ in God” and as we fix our eyes on Christ we will increasingly discover who He is, and be enabled to live our lives as an expression of Him (Gal 5:22,23; Heb 12:1,2; 1 Jn 3:1,2). Sinful activity results from reversion to our past humanistic lifestyle but the Holy Spirit imparts a new life and nature in order to live righteously (Rom 6:4,12,17,18, 7:20). Trying to live without vital connection with and obedience to the Lord is setting ourselves up for defeat as Satan is always watching to gain an easy advantage. Our security is only in relationship to our Saviour. The Bible’s message is “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5).

Our ongoing focus should not be self-centred introspection but Christ, who lives within, the victory we have in Him, and the creative possibilities of His life flowing through us to minister to others (Rom 12:3; 1 Cor 6:19). Are we taking active steps to grow closer to God with a conscious discernment of His presence and power in our lives? David looked within himself and identified issues that were not beneficial, then took appropriate action (Ps 42:5,11, 43:5). We should examine ourselves, especially before taking communion, so we do this without known, unconfessed sin in our lives (1 Cor 11:28).