Know Thyself

This is an issue that I tend to harp on quite a bit. The reason is because I don't think very many people actually know who they really are. I think there are several reasons for that, first, because we live in darkness. I'm not talking about the lack of light type of darkness, but spiritual darkness. Even Christians I believe often come out of the darkness but stay in the shadows. We view ourselves under false pretenses, either what we do, who we are, how much we make, how we dress, how much we attend church, the list goes on and on. We may accept that we are saved by grace, but often we live by our own works, and in our own power. We don't see ourselves in light of who we really are, who we were created to be, how God made us, loves us.

The second part is I think we are ignorant. We have ideas, thoughts and theories about God, life, the past and the future and we have no interest in letting go of our false ideals. We hold to our ideologies that are often like a carnival mirror. These false ideals of how we view the world distort the world and distort how we see ourselves. Sometimes we flatter ourselves, but I think more often than that, we condemn ourselves. We compare ourselves to the ideal, people who don't really exist. Often time to escape, we begin to idealize ourselves, and begin to think more of ourselves. In either case, we think too little or too much of ourselves, we don't really know ourselves.

I think all of this culminates in society where we are expected to be like other people. I have noticed in the trend of the giant sunglasses that girls wear, I have a theory about why they are so popular (cause they are so ugly). They cover up so much of your face, that you look like everyone else when you wear them. It doesn't matter that they are hideous, it matters that you look like you are suppose to look in society. We are expected to conform, to blend, to dress the same, talk the same and act the same as the group we are with, and often we are not even truthful enough with ourselves to admit to it.

It happens most of all in the church. Simple things like what version of the Bible we use can be influenced by where we go to church. What we sing, and how we worship. Do you stand, sit, raise your hands, fall down, roll around, vibrate, laugh, cry or handle snakes? It depends on what sort of church (or strange cult group) you are in. If affects the way we do lots of things, but when we understand who we are, we can begin to act in and through the way God made us. In the next few weeks, months, years (sometimes I am slow on the blog) I want to talk about some avenues where we need to learn who we are. This, as well as some more woven theology and the rest of my big deal. Hope you keep reading and commenting with me.