Self-Awareness

Daily Reading: Revelation 3

Scripture Focus: For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Revelation 3.17)

Devotional Thought: The Laodicean church saw themselves as praiseworthy, but the Lord said they were anything but.  They saw themselves as exemplary, but God said they were intensely needy.  They suffered from a deep lack of self-awareness.

They neither understood nor embodied Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5.3).  They thought their material plenty and physical health put them in good stead with God.  They lacked a sense of spiritual poverty. 

The contrasts are stunning—between what they thought they were and what they really were … between how they saw themselves and how God saw them … between the standing and status they thought they had and the spiritual bankruptcy of their hearts.

Spiritual blindness is devastating, for how the Lord sees us is much more important than how we see ourselves.  When history reaches its climax, it will be his opinion that counts.

One of the great gifts of the Holy Spirit is a heightened sense of self-awareness.  When we become truly intimate with Jesus, we also become deeply aware of his values and priorities—the end result of which is not a sense of comfortableness or spiritual superiority, but a constant willingness to adjust our heart and tweak our actions. 

It's a strange paradox, but the more like God we are, the more unlike him we’ll feel!  Then we will make lifestyle adjustments to become more like him.  But it’s not a slavish, servile thing.  It’s something we do willingly and joyfully because our awareness of who he is has made us acutely aware of where we fall short.  We’re driven by a longing to be conformed to his example.

John Whitsett

Prayer: Lord—don’t let me be deluded and misguided like the Laodiceans.  May my relationship with you spark a deep self-awareness in me to where my attitudes, thoughts, and actions are constantly being tweaked so they dovetail with yours.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 102.1-11

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!

2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!

3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.

4 My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.

5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.

6 I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;

7 I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

8 All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.

9 For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,

10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.