Self-Awareness and God-Awareness

The following is from a blogpost that Molly Lockwood (from the music duo in the video post earlier) wrote.  This topic is something that I have been recently convicted about and she puts it to words quite well, so I'll just link to her article for now  . . . maybe I'll write my own article on the topic sometime in the future =)

(the boldings are something I added--not to to take credit for the words written, but in case the style is distracting =) )  hyperlink is at the bottom--definitely feel free to go to the original site to read it there!)

SELF-AWARENESS AND GOD-AWARENESS 

Self-awareness, when it is unbalanced with God-awareness, is crippling to the Christian life.

• Self-awareness that is unbalanced- and please hear the emphasis on the word “unbalanced”- turns us inward; God-awareness turns us outward.

• Staring at myself (ultimately) either leads to self-righteousness OR self-hatred.  It is only a dead-end; though marked with interesting discoveries, those discoveries are no means to any end. They cannot diagnose, or give hope, or bring change.

• Staring at Jesus is the only means to a good end.  Jesus is where you and I must go to unearth the deepest realities of our identity, and Jesus is where we must go to find change.

• Self-awareness causes me to ask, after a conversation with someone, “How did she perceive me?” or in a group, “How did they see me?”

• God-awareness causes me to ask, “How does the Father see her?”

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• Self-awareness, at best, turns us outward for our own benefit… groping for feelings of honor, love, understanding, and appreciation.

• God-awareness turns us outward for others’ benefit…propelling us toward those who are marginalized, misunderstood, disliked, scorned.  We seek for others to feel honored, understood, loved, and appreciated.

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• Led by self-awareness, I will love and serve with my reputation at stake, so that I can gorge on a secret comfort-food feast of self-righteousness;

• Led by God-awareness, I will love and serve when no one is watching, or even cares…which brings about true righteousness.

• Self-awareness makes me ‘play-it-safe’ when asked hard questions.

• God-awareness makes me open and honest, because I feel His sustaining mercies swirling around me.  I have nothing to fear under His mercy’s wing.

• Self-awareness moves us toward shallow talk and chit-chat, as we obsess about finding our niche in a circle of people.

• God-awareness moves us toward the urgent and the eternal in conversation- makes us look into a person’s eyes and speak with prophetic confidence words that will edify, in the need of the moment.

• Self-awareness makes us criticize others, because we are either deeply ashamed of our own depravity, or deeply disillusioned about our own greatness.

• God-awareness makes us compassionate toward others, because we realize that His love is the great plumb line, the level, the equalizer of all people.

• Led by Self-awareness, we live afraid that we will mess everything up.

• Led by God-awareness, we live boldly dependent on His resources, sure that they never run out.

• Self-awareness carries an attitude of defensiveness…  always trying to push up to the front of the line and prove ourselves.

• God-awareness produces humility, because we’re so in awe of His beauty that we can’t take our eyes off Him and put them on ourselves, even for a second.

• Isolated self-awareness sees MY NEED right now.

• God-awareness sees the KINGDOM NEED right now.

• Self-awareness robs our thought life… trapping us on a ferris wheel of analysis, critique, philosophies.

• God-awareness liberates our thought life… to be Spirit-led, spontaneous, surprising, and supernatural.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John 3:30

Self-Awareness and God-Awareness


Definitely an article I will be rereading and reflecting on in the coming days . . .

These Are Written - An Animation

A video that goes along with my post from yesterday =)

The God of Mud Puddles (and everything else)

Recently, I was reminded that God is in control of both the big and the small things of life.  This reminder does not come from my great understanding of the reasons behind His plan, but from being reminded of His greatness, both in power and wisdom, worked out through His great love.

As much as I need to cling to this assurance in the major difficulties and challenges in life, today’s reminder was that I also need to cling to this assurance in the small and mundane difficulties (and everything in between).  Because though small and mundane challenges are just that--small and mundane--they are also numerous and constitute a majority of the events in my life.  I often think I can handle them on my own--my own strength, my own power, my own wisdom.  And individually, the circumstances do seem manageable on my own.

They are often seemingly small fires that I can put out in my own strength, but the vast number of small fires are wearing and wearying when it is in my own strength that I rely.  At minimum, this can result in my grumbling, and more often than I would like, escalates to feelings of being overwhelmed.

But the small and the big challenges of life both remind me of my need for God--for His strength, for His wisdom, for His comfort, for His love, for His provision.  And I am also reminded that all that I already have (even my “own” strength) comes from Him, all things are from Him, and specifically, all good things are from Him.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

The God who is able to calm a raging sea is able to still a rippling mud puddle (or many rippling mud puddles).  The God who can make the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear is not inhibited by my weaknesses.  The God who created the world out of nothing is quite able to provide for any of my needs, big or little.  He is able in the big, AND He is able in the small.  

The God who orchestrated the redemption of His world and His people at great cost to Himself is able and willing to redeem the minor along with the major of life.  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)