To ensure ongoing healthy spiritual growth and development, we must know ourselves clearly, seeing ourselves honestly through the eyes of God.

David, Bathsheba and Nathan “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.” (2 Samuel 11:1)

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)  ”The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.” (2 Samuel 11:2-4) David’s false understanding of himself had caused him to fail to remain on mission with God. Instead, David found himself on mission for himself, evidenced in his lustful pursuit of a married woman while his own six wives slept nearby in their quarters.

Bathsheba returned to David, informing him that she was pregnant by him. In response, David orchestrates her husband, Uriah’s, death in an attempt to cover his tracks. Shortly after Uriah’s death, God sent the prophet Nathan, a close confidant of David, to him with a uniquely pointed parable which laid bare before David the true condition of his heart. David’s carefully crafted false identity came crashing down in mere moments. With God’s help, David understood the true condition of his heart and, with Nathan’s help and guidance, he began to do those things that would lead to restoration and continued spiritual growth.

We can protect ourselves from falling into the trap of self-delusion, by asking ourselves on a consistent basis “what is going on in me right now that Jesus is trying to change?”. We must pay attention to the “silent thoughts” of our hearts for keys to how God might desire to be at work within us.

We need people in our lives who can help alert us to the true condition of our hearts. We need trusted companions to help us see ourselves more clearly.

We must be consistently on the lookout for how God might be calling us out of our comfort zones – the place where our false selves thrive – and into His incredible mission for his people.