Brief Thoughts on Self-Examination
Grace, truth, and the discipline of confession
Self-examination (coupled with confession) is a spiritual discipline that we would do well to consistently implement in our own lives. For followers of Christ, monitoring our own moral and spiritual growth is important. Over the years, as we seek to embody his Way, God will change us
Many advocates of the practice of self-examination, past and present, claim that it should be engaged in twice a day. In the morning, the aim is to think through all that you must do in the day to come, with a focus on the responsibilities and obligations that you have on that day. As Ben Franklin put it, “What good shall I do this day?” During the end-of-day review, one might pose several questions. What bad habits did we address? What opportunities arose to love and serve others, and did we take them? What person that annoys us did we seek to see and to love as an image-bearer of God? We might also ask ourselves what virtues we exemplified: courage, honesty, compassion, humility, or others? Faith, hope, or love? Did I treat others with respect? Was I good to myself and others? Most importantly for followers of the Way of Jesus, we can ask “Did I seek to love God with all of my being, and my neighbor as myself?”
The above is merely a suggestion. It is best to experiment a bit and find what works for you. My own practice, due to some of the influence of my spiritual upbringing and personality, is more fluid and organic. I seek a sensitivity to God’s Spirit such that confession happens more throughout the day, at least ideally. When I see a pattern, or am convicted about a particular sin, I spend some time (sometimes very brief, sometimes more sustained) in thought and prayer about it. I’ll also engage in conversation with other followers of Jesus I know and trust to try and address it.
Change is often slow. For me, at least, change doesn’t happen in a day, a month, or even a year in some cases. It often is seen, though, over many years. I may not see significant change in the past months (or longer) in some area, but as I think through what I struggled with at 25 or 35 or 45, and how many of those struggles are no longer present at 55, I am grateful. Acceptance of the slowness of growth in Christ, saturated in the grace of Christ, has been good for me, as I am still prone at times to engage in morbid introspection. We must keep his grace front and center as we practice self-examination. Grace and truth. We need them both.
We must avoid morbid introspection, as well as misguided forms of guilt and shame. But we must also be wary of an insufficient concern for our growth in Christ. If we make becoming a better person one of our primary goals in life—which for followers of Jesus means becoming more fully human in Christ—the practice of self-examination can help us make progress over time.
If you’d like to focus on growth in humility and love, my most recent book has practical and immediately applicable practices to engage in, with God, for fostering such growth.
