The ancient Temple of Apollo in Delphi is said to have had an inscription that said: “Know Thyself.” The presumed meaning is to encourage self-examination. In contrast, Post-modern society uses this phrase as an encouragement to be true to self. This ultimately encourages a person to be a self-worshiper. No matter what we replace the One Living and True God with, we end up in idolatry. Statue-worship and self-worship are both equally idolatry. To worship an image or self-image is to take worship from the very one to whom it belongs, God alone.
The world’s infatuation with self is a sign of a lack of knowledge. It is not a lack of knowledge of self as much as a lack of knowledge of God. The Bible teaches that humanity is made in the Image of God (Gen 1:26). It is impossible for a human being to know self apart from a knowledge of God. How can anyone understand a model or picture of something without knowing it is a model or picture, and not the original. Imagine seeing a model of a battleship and not knowing it is a model. One might think it strange that someone would build such a small ship. It would also seem strange that someone would build such a small ship to do battle at sea. It only makes sense in regard to what it models. Likewise, humanity only makes sense in reference to the Living God. There are many things about God that people misunderstand, and thereby misunderstands their own natures.
First, is the holiness of God. Ultimately, God’s holiness is the expression of his nature (Is 40:25). He is unlike his creation; he is the Creator and not the creature. This means we can never be God. He alone is always God and will never cease to be God (Deut 33:27; Mal 3:6). This distinction points right to the heart of sin, the desire to be like God (Gen 3). The desire to be self-ruling is the very proof of sin in our hearts. It attacks the Creator-creature distinction. That leads to an attack on the goodness of God. In Eden Satan convinced Eve that she should be like God and that God was not good. He was withholding good from her because he was afraid she would be like God. This leads to the other aspect of God’s holiness, moral purity. God’s moral purity stems from his holy nature. The infinite purity of God’s nature stands in stark contrast to the image of God that has become perverted and distorted by the fall. A knowledge of the holiness of God shows us what we have lost.
Second, the goodness of God demonstrates how dependent we are (Lk 18:19). We like to think of ourselves as good and caring. However, only God is truly good. It is by his goodness that we are spared the consequences of our rebellion against him (Is 63:7; Lam 3:22–23). It is the Lord, in his goodness, that sends his rain on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45) and sustains all things (Col 1:17). It is directly from the mercy and goodness of God, that he sent his Son to redeem us while we were rebellious sinners (Rom 5:8). There is no goodness in us; it is all by God’s grace. A misunderstanding of God’s goodness, sourced in our rebellious hearts, causes us to think highly of ourselves. We want to put ourselves in the place of God in regard to goodness. However, in the presence of God even prophets and apostles recognized how unworthy they were (Is 6:5; Rev 1:17). An understanding of the unfathomable depths of the goodness of God helps us to see ourselves in our rightful place. We do not really understand who we are unless we contemplate the goodness of God.
The glory of God is the third area we humans badly underestimate. I have often heard people say things like, “When I get to heaven I am going to have a beer with the Big Man Upstairs and talk a few things over with him.” We want to think of God like he is one of our buddies, that we can give a piece of our mind while sipping beer at the bar. But that is a complete misunderstanding of who God is, and thereby a misunderstanding of who we are. The Scriptures indicate that the Lord is glorious. Job learned this lesson when he wanted to plead his case before God (Job 40:3–5). God is not another man to be put in his place. He is the maker of heaven and earth (Is 51:13). He is the one who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16). Before his face one day the earth and sky will flee away (Rev 20:11). This is not a person to be manipulated. By forgetting the greatness of God, we inflate our own status in our own minds. We believe we are great, when only God is great. Our lack of knowledge of God has caused us to deceive ourselves about our own nature. The more we know about him, the more we would see, by faith, ourselves for what we are, creatures in need of our great and loving Creator.
The problem humanity has always had with knowing self, has always been rooted in a lack of knowledge of God. Knowing self does not come through enrichment classes or meditation. It does not come through selfish choices or inflated self-concepts. It is available only by knowing the God who made us in his image. The worlds solutions to knowing God always fall short, because they focus on the creature rather than the Creator in whose image we are made.
Please note that WordPress.com, who hosts this blog for free, sometimes generates links or ads that are not Christian or sometimes express unbiblical ideas. Please do not consider links at the bottom of this blog as endorsements from me.