Knowing Myself

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)  

John Calvin starts out his Institutes by saying, "Our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves."


I read that a few years ago and confess that I did not understand why the "knowledge of self" would be of any importance at all. I am now reading Volume 6 of John Owens works called Temptation and Sin. Reading Owen has helped me understand why a "knowledge of self" was important to Calvin, and why it should be important to us.

Owen says, "Let him that would not enter into temptation labour to know his own heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all occasions of sin."

(This is not my wife)

How much time do you spend mining into your own heart? Digging through your natural weaknesses, finding out where you are prone to wonder, prone to leave the God you profess to love? I am learning, at least for myself that this takes time. My wife is a natural multi-tasker. She can amazingly do one thing (even many things), while thinking about another. I seem to be utterly unable to do this. I can hardly wash dishes and have a conversation with one of my kids at the same time.

(And this is not me)
Incase you were wondering

You may be like my wife and have the ability to ponder the depths of the heart, while folding laundry at the same time. Or maybe you are more like me, who needs to purposely set time aside to ponder the things below the surface.

Whichever way you are, I would encourage you to spend time pondering your own heart. Calvin says this springs forth true wisdom, and Owen says it keeps us from entering into temptation and sin. These seems like good reasons from good and godly men that have gone before us.