For ‘Part 2’ I’m going to set out a list of questions/statements and then try and speak to each.
- ALL facets of one’s person need to be included
- Who you are that you are seen as
- Who do you want to be remember as
- What you are willing to pay to grow and not grow
- The connection between desire and fact
- The connection between calling and fact
I think I would argue that the first step in ‘examine’ is identifying. All of who you are. The good. The not so good. The definite bad. We all have these in our DNA and definitely in our character. I suspect that we lament as Paul did – do read all of these verses, but I’m going to highlight certain parts in light of our ‘examining’ Romans 7:15-25
“15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. …
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. 19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. …
22 For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature], 23 but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members.
24 Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? 25 Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.”
This is what we all have to deal with. Part of our warfare is really internal – with ourselves. The point should be – we are NOT alone in this battle. Read again verses 24-25. Do you see that we are aided in this by the Lord? He wants to engage with us – not do it to us. Remember He has created us with Free Will, and that is no small thing, He will always allow us to make our decision. I would also suggest that this is so fundamental, so crucial to our relationship as well as to who we are becoming, that we can’t treat this cavalierly. We don’t just toss a prayer in the air: Please God help me (fill in the blank) and then go merrily on our way.
Which leads to point 1: ALL facets of one’s person need to be included. I would argue that we have bought into a mindset that tells us we learn more from our mistakes. While we DO learn from our mistakes, we also learn from our successes. How can we build on a strong foundation (success) is as valuable as learning what not to do. Let me ask you – how often do you assess, examine your successes? Do you use them as a basis for further success? Are we going to throw away those words, actions, mindsets, etc. that do work? And our logic????
Examining our who, what, why, when, how is crucial to our growth but it’s all of us and as the old song goes… ‘… you gotta accent the positive, eliminate the negative…’ Sometimes our greatest understandings come from analyzing our positives – it definitely makes easier our ability and understanding to analyze our negatives and improve and learn from them.
