KNOW THYSELF
The saying, “Know Thyself” was attributed to the Greek pagan philosopher Socrates who lived some 400 years before Jesus Christ. His equally famous pupil Plato made him the chief character in his books for Socrates had written no book, nor held any lecture. As a teacher, he would only ask questions and if he got an answer, asked more questions like a cross-examination. Socrates asked his questions in order to make people think about ideas they took for granted.
Socrates knew that knowing the self is an avenue towards self development and advancement. Being followers of Christ rather than Socrates, we too are interested on not only the physical but more importantly the spiritual self.
How do you visualize yourself? Is it the same way others see you? How does God view you? What are you really like? This questions need to be considered as a Christian who not only `talk the talk' but walk the talk.
In a sense, there are three concepts of `you'. There is the `you' that you see. That is what you perceive yourself to be. This is not what you are in reality, only what you feel you are like.
Then there is the `you' that others see. This too, is a skewed perspective. Others can see you outwardly. They can even see things about you that you cannot see about yourself. However they are unable to read the heart. They evaluate you by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear.
The last you is the real `you'. This is the you that God sees. He reads your heart and mind, as well as seeing what is outwardly visible. He knows the true person you are in your character, your innermost being.
God's law is like a mirror that shows us exactly what we are like, not what we think we are like, but what we truly are. Like a person conscious of his appearance in public that we check how we look in a mirror before going out, God expect us to look at that mirror regularly and compare ourselves to what we see.
That mirror was described by the apostle James who said, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25).
James was saying that we cannot understand what we as human beings really are without comparing ourselves with the standards of the royal law, God's revealed Word. The apostle Paul says in Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, `You shall not covet.'”
When the law shows us that there is something we are doing that God says we should not, we have spotted a figurative dirt that needs removing. When the law tells us that we should do something we have overlooked, we have likewise seen an imperfection in our spiritual countenance.
So as mentioned earlier, we need to regularly visit our spiritual mirror which is God's law. The law of God shows us the specks and imperfection that need to be dealt with, not with superficial application of cosmetics that only cover the dirt but with changes of the heart that removes that spiritual blemishes. So it is God's law, His revealed will for mankind, that is the true mirror that reflects what we are in reality. This is the true SELF that needs to be known that Socrates cannot fully grasp to understand having no Spirit of God in him.
What does that mirror reveal about how we look spiritually? It is not a pretty picture. The prophet Jeremiah was inspired to give us God's view when he said “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
In Romans 8:6-8 Paul shows us another view of human nature. “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
When the apostle Paul looked into that spiritual mirror, even he did not see anything there of intrinsic value to God. He records his image in Romans 7:18 when he says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells....”.
It is quite humbling to look at ourselves through the spiritual mirror. We see that apart from God, we are not as beautiful as we thought. This is not a bad thing, however. It is truth that hurts but set us free. Once we begin to see the spots and blemishes, then we can do something about them. How thankful we should be to God for the wonderful mirror He has given us to really see the real `you' before it is too late.
Many people's approach to Christianity is to enhance their self-image, to come to the point of being able to feel good about who and what they are. The process of conversion as outlined in the Scriptures is just the opposite. When Paul said he did not see anything good in himself, he had been an apostle and converted for around 20 years. Egotistically and vainly enhancing his image was not a part of his thinking. Many today, fall short to the standard set by the apostle and even we many times are not exempted, a thing which should repent and strive again. If the apostle Paul the primary writer of the New Testament and example for all of us to follow for he says in 1 Corinthian 11 :1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” saw nothing good in himself after 20 years of having God's Spirit, positive self image must not be the real and true goal.
Instead of a mirror, many seem to want to use the law of God as a window or a telescope to look through to see others. We must note that the devil also use Scripture to deceive and get us if possible, deceiving the very elect, so to speak. One of Satan's devices is to get us looking at and evaluating everyone else through God's Word, rather than looking at ourselves.
A person who does not look in the spiritual mirror is like someone with a big black mark across his or her forehead. In blissful ignorance, this person thinks he looks great, even though the mark can be clearly seen.
That is not to say Christians should fall in the opposite ditch of constantly berating themselves. Nor should they always be depressed by what God is showing them about themselves. We have the victory over the self through Christ's sacrifice, His Spirit and His ongoing help in our lives. As Paul said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God; through Jess Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin”(Romans 7:24).
It is very difficult for human beings to accept the objective truth. Winston Churchill once quipped that when most people trip over the truth they get up, dust themselves off and hurry on their way as though nothing had happened.. Today, this same attitude holds true even among God's former called out ones. Much truth had been sent out through God's true present work.
When God called us to an understanding of Himself, He uses the mirror of the Word to show us ourselves and bring us to repentance. The ugly and dirty `you' was exposed. We spiritually put the old man to death at baptism and came out of the water a new creation.
Thankfully, God reveals the true man of the heart to us a little bit at a time. If we saw everything we need to change as soon as He called us, we could not take the shock. However, God is merciful. He shows us a little bit at a time, only as much As we are able to handle. The ongoing process of conversion occurs as we deal with and overcome what He is currently showing us, bit by bit, as we grow in our depth of repentance.
The “love chapter” of the Bible tells us, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthian 13:12).
Now we see some of what we are like. We also begin to know the real `you,' as Socrates said. In the kingdom of God we will be able to fully know what we were like when human. In all the joy of being in the marriage of the Lamb, we will experience and see ourselves for the first time as God saw us all along, the real SELF.
Know Thyself, and the only way to really know ourselves is through the spiritual mirror of God's Holy Law.
Sotero Sonza