Know Yourself

“Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”

—ANN LANDERS

Jesus, knowing (fully aware) that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God.

—John 13:3

If we continue on from John 13:3, we see Jesus put on a servant’s towel and wash His disciples’ feet. What an amazing display of humility and greatness. I believe one of the things enabling Jesus to do this was He knew Himself. He knew who He was, where He came from, and where He was going. He also knew why He was sent. He was not insecure at all, but His confidence was in His Father.

Many people do not know who they are, and it causes them to spend their lifetimes trying to do things they have not been called to do, are not equipped to do, and will surely fail to accomplish. We should not only know what we can do, we should also know what we can’t do. One of the greatest tragedies I have witnessed as an employer is watching people remain in positions that do not challenge them at all, simply due to fear. In the same way, I have been saddened to watch other people remain in positions quite over their heads, while they are unable or unwilling to admit it.

Why do we have such a difficult time saying, “That is not my strength and I don’t think I would do a good job at it”? We are insecure! We get too much of our worth and value from what we do when we should get it from who we are in Christ. If you’re a child of God, that is all the position and title you will ever need.

Peter was a man who did not know himself. He thought more highly of himself than he should have. He had weaknesses he was not willing to admit and he was taught a few hard lessons about his real self. He thought he would never deny Christ and yet he did. This event caused him to get to know himself, and after he repented, he was restored by God and continued on to become a great apostle of Jesus. Having weaknesses and inabilities doesn’t disqualify us, because God’s strength is made perfect in our weaknesses, but we cannot go beyond what God enables us to do.

I recall a woman—we will call her Jane—who asked me for prayer about a troubling situation. One of her friends at work was promoted to a grade-one secretary and kept pushing Jane to also try for an upgraded position. Jane heard me preaching about becoming all you can be, and although she did not feel she had the skills to be a grade-one secretary, she felt pressured by her friend and my preaching to do so. I explained to her she needed to follow her heart and there was absolutely nothing wrong with being a grade-two secretary if that was truly where she felt God wanted her. This knowledge immediately simplified her life. She was delivered from feeling confused, and she realized she did not need to live in competition; she just needed to know and be herself.