After turning away from the more obvious sins in our lives, we may begin to think that we are fairly godly. But that is when we face the real battle against sin. Sinful thoughts and attitudes remained buried deep within our hearts and control us in ways we don’t realize. If we saw all our sinfulness at once, it would overwhelm us and drive some of us mad…which is a warning against excessive self-examination.
Yet we still desire to grow in godliness. We want to share in His nature and reflect it to others, and to do that we must continually give Him permission to uncover deeper areas of our lives. Better yet, we should eagerly ask Him to do so and pursue it with our whole heart. Then our heart will have an attitude of continual openness to His promptings. We will be more willing to open the door when we begin to hear the faint knocking of His Spirit.
We don’t have to be afraid to see our sins because He does not want to punish us. We are forgiven and our Father wants to make us whole. God is moved by his love for us and he wants to free us from hidden and destructive ways of sin.
All believers have sinful thoughts and attitudes buried deep within them. We all carry our old fallen nature with us for life. Even though God crucified it when we first believed, it will not be completely dead until we enter heaven. That is why Scripture instructs us to “[continuously] put off your old self” (Eph. 4:22, ESV). Our sins like to disguise themselves inside us, so we need His help to show us the deeper roots of our sin so we can crucify them.
Prayer and sensitivity to His Spirit are important practices for growing in our awareness of sin. Self-examination during daily prayers is helpful. Have we compromised somewhere? Have we been motivated by pride? Do we sense any growing resentment or anger towards someone? Are the worries and distractions of the world beginning to interfere with our allegiance to the ways of God and His Kingdom? Have we been completely honest? Have we remained focused on the Lord? Have we chosen to love those around us? Don’t forget that self-examination should be done with God and facing God, not without Him in isolation; otherwise, it can quickly become destructive.
As we do this, we should remember that the Spirit always convicts us gently and constructively. Conviction of sin that comes with condemnation and attack is not from the Spirit of God. It is either from Satan, or ourselves; though sometimes the Spirit begins to convict us and then we take over and condemn ourselves. We should only receive conviction of sin when it comes with the motive of cleansing and restoring us.
Do you regularly examine your actions and attitudes? Do you discover new areas of immaturity and apply yourself to overcoming them? Do you pursue this within the context of a love relationship with the Father?
