Who are you? Don’t be too sure you know.

Who are you? In asking that question, I do not mean, “What’s your name?” Rather, what is the nature of your heart? What values are found at the center of your being? What motivates you and moves you forward in life.

Before you answer too quickly, think about Proverbs 16:2.

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD (Proverbs 16:2).”

According to this Proverb, knowing yourself is not as easy as you might think. There are times when we don’t even know our own motives.

Dietrich Bonehoeffer stood up against Hitler and was eventually executed. But, even shortly before his execution he struggled to know himself. From prison he wrote,

Who am I? . . .

Am I really all that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I know of myself,

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

So, how can we get to know ourselves? The Proverb gives us the answer. “Motives are weighed by the Lord.” It is only as we see ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word – – only as we are sharpened and strengthened in the community of God’s people – – -It is then that we begin to understand ourselves more truly, and it is then that we can grow and flourish and know the joy and peace of following Christ.

Get to know yourself in the mirror of God’s Word and the community of the redeemed.