Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be

“The one pair of eyes into which you can never gaze is your own.”  There are parts of ourselves we will never see without a mirror or outside help.  In one sense we know ourselves better than anyone in the world as we have access to our inner thoughts and feelings. But in another way we know ourselves worse than anyone else since we rationalize, justify our behavior, and may not know we are even doing it.  “There is a me I cannot see.”
  We deceive ourselves and claim too much credit and too little blame. Our memories are usually in favor of our egos.   Apart from the flow of the Spirit, we can’t even see our sin. The Psalmist wrote “Who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults?”   We are insensitive and don’t know the truth about ourselves. But God will help reveal to us the truth that we are able to handle. Our job is simply to listen and to respond. God can give us enough grace, strength, and truth to overcome our distorted vision. Left to ourselves we often call evil good and good evil. Guilt is not our enemy. Sin, which blocks our lives, is the enemy. The Spirit will often bring a sense of conviction, and when He does, the best response is not to suppress our guilt but to admit it.  Let us allow our thoughts and responses to be guided by the Spirit.  What a wonderful word to our hearts when we hear the word FORGIVEN