“A person who doesn’t regularly evaluate himself is like a man who locks up his home without checking the backdoor. He thinks he is safe, but has left an open door to his enemy”
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So I heard this story of a contractor that was hired to do some remodeling in a family’s home. As the contractor was working, he secretly unlocked the back door of the customers home so that he could return later that night to rob the family. This actually happens a lot. Who can we blame for this? I believe both the contractor and the homeowners are to blame. And when it comes down to it, the homeowners are ultimately responsible. I am a longtime advocate of checking the backdoor every time you lock up the house whether you have opened it that day or not. (Bear with me this will tie in Spiritually)
What this contractor knows is that the homeowner will not check the backdoor because he has not gone out the backdoor. Most people rarely use their backdoor and therefore neglect securing it. Such an easy trick for a criminal.
Just like locking up our house for the night we need to do a self evaluation on areas in our life that we think we have mastered.
The biggest error that we make when evaluating ourselves is going straight to those areas where we know we fall short. What about the areas where we think we are strong? What about the backdoor that we KNOW we secured long ago. Do we check to see if old wounds have secretly opened up again? Do we ever examine if old ideals have found a way to creep back into our lives or do we move on to other things hoping the enemy hasn’t snuck in the back door while our guard was down? How do we know that the ideas and practices we have are the best for us? Sadly some of the most important principles go over our head because we think we already have those areas conquered. If we are going to examine ourselves we must examine every area including the areas we think we have mastered. These are the areas where error often hides itself. The ultimate false security is our own intellect and experiences. We tend put put trust in thoughts and beliefs we have inherited from our fathers without ever questioning the root of those beliefs.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:23-25
The scripture above shows us a powerful illustration of how we are to evaluate ourselves. Both Men in the scripture did a sort of self evaluation when they looked in the mirror but had dramatically different results. This shows us that there are some methods of self evaluation that are more effective than others.
The first man is said to be like someone who looks into a mirror and sees what kind of man he is yet goes away and quickly forgets. He is compared to someone who listens to the Word of God but does not do what it says. He quickly forgot what he was like because he, after looking at himself, went his way. The other man looked intently (with strained or eager attention) into the word of God and did not forget what he has heard. When we are reading our Bibles or listening to a sermon we must reflect on ourselves using what is spoken or read instead of merely listening.
More Scriptures:
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
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So true and one so elequentl said!! So often we forget to really reflect on our who we are and are we living the life we are supposed to? As it says in his word to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1) How can we do this if we are not studing his word and taking spirutual inventory daily?