Monday: Know Yourself
Daily Lesson for Monday 13th of April 2026
Two men go to church to pray. One is a respected elder who stands at the front before church begins, in front of the congregation so they can see him. He prays aloud, thanking God for his own perceived goodness. The other man, a fringe dweller of society, stands at the very back of the church. His eyes are blurry with tears because of the weight on his shoulders from his sins. In the back corner of the church, he falls to his knees, whispering in desperation, “Please, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Read Luke 18:9-14. What do you think of these two men? What did Jesus think? What important lesson is here for us all?
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
It’s very easy for us to exalt ourselves. Sometimes it becomes second nature to let others know of our accomplishments and how good we are. But these things, in and of themselves, make no difference to our reputation in heaven’s eyes. In fact, it’s actually contrary to what we might think, because “ ‘everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’ ” (Luke 18:14, NKJV). Jesus also counsels us to take the lowest seat and let the host elevate you if he or she so wishes (Luke 14:8-10). This upside-down kingdom that Jesus teaches is the opposite of what we expect. “It is only he who knows himself to be a sinner that Christ can save.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 158.
In first realizing our true state of sinfulness and our desperate need of Christ, we can come to Him knowing with confidence that if “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NKJV).
The closer we draw to Christ, the more we realize our sinfulness and unworthiness. “In one way only can a true knowledge of self be obtained. We must behold Christ. It is ignorance of Him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 159.
So, what does God think of the proud? 1 Peter 5:5 tells us that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” It couldn’t be clearer.
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When did you last experience God’s grace in your life? (Indeed, we should experience this grace daily.) We should also show grace to others. Spend some time in prayer right now, asking God to humble you under His mighty hand, that He alone may exalt you in due time. |
Making a self-assessment on self-pride is not an easy task. Making a reality check is not likely to be honest, truthful, objective and balanced. Human bias is a real problem. The Bible acknowledges the inability of a human heart to assess itself. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9,NLT). Do we really know the depth of our pride? Do we even know that we are proud creatures? Pride is very subtle. As I wrote in Saturday’s posting, pride masquerades as a virtue of: “self-respect”, “self-esteem”, “my principles”, “greatness”, “strength”, “knowledge”, “experience”, “understanding” and “independence”. Hence, it is difficult for one to realise that he/she is suffering from this sin. A proud person normally does not admit to being less. All the time want to feel and think that they are right. Self-deception is a serious problem when it comes to self-assessment.
It is only God who searches the depths of our hearts and knows how wicked and crooked we are. “Search me, O God… see if there is any hurtful way in me” (Psalm 139:23–24). We must invite the Holy Spirit to give a realistic scorecard of our hearts. Secondly, we must use the Word of God as the perfect yardstick to measure the intent of our actions. Thirdly, to really know whether we are proud or not, we must humble ourselves to listen when we are told by others that we are suffering from this “disease”. Humility will help us to be honest with ourselves in making an honest self-check. Fourthly, we must ask God to give a Spirit of discernment. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5).
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24)
Dear Omwenga, thank you for giving us a point by point direction on what we should do to address the issue of pride in our lives. Many times we are told that we shouldn’t be proud but not told what we need to do in simple language to address it.
I would like to reiterate and expand on the main points that you made in the second to last paragraph. The solution to our pride is to have the Holy Spirit change our nature. However, we must want the Holy Spirit to change us, and want it so much that we hunger and thirst for it. That hungering and thirsting is channeled through prayer, fasting and deep studying of God’s word. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will bear fruits of the Spirit, which will include humility, genuine love to others, honesty with our selves, righteous motives, generosity, a forgiving spirit, a lack of jealousy, revengefulness, etc.
These have to be our daily prayers. Then, in all our ways we will be acknowledging God, and our lives will become intuned with his will. This is something we cannot do for ourselves, we need the Spirit to do it for us. So, He gets the glory.
We live in an age and culture where no one wants to show weakness; everyone wants to appear as a winner, even if it is a lie or only temporary. Some even live different lives on social media, portraying success while reality tells a different story. Knowing oneself goes beyond identity. Although identity is important because it determines how one is addressed, treated, and given opportunities, failing to know oneself leads to living as the tail when one should be the head. One ends up passing exams no one asked them to take, fishing and catching nothing in the ocean of life, and eventually drifting toward self-destruction. As it is written, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Not knowing oneself is like the “curse of the vagabond.” It comes upon people who wander from business to business, place to place, continent to continent, country to country, and job to job, yet are never established in anything meaningful. They feel unwanted, unneeded, inadequate, and negative, and they end up caged by the enemy of purpose. Without self-understanding, life becomes motion without direction and effort without fulfillment. The most painful part is not failure itself, but living without clarity about who you are and why you exist.
The devil has often lied that understanding our job, race, tribe, color, or even our neighbors will determine how we are treated. However, it is only when we discover who we truly are that we begin to achieve our goals. Knowing ourselves gives us the opportunity to evaluate our priorities and understand what we are living for. There is no greater discovery than the discovery of oneself. It is possible to be successful and still not know who you are, and the most horrible form of ignorance is ignorance of oneself. Scripture reminds us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). True direction in life begins with self-knowledge rooted in purpose.
Motanya – thank you for sharing your thoughts about the need to ‘knowing oneself’. I appreciate your statement: “True direction in life begins with self-knowledge rooted in purpose.” It brought to mind my lifelong commitment to discovering ‘all I was designed to be’.
There was a time when I believed just knowing to be a child of God was sufficient to go about my life. But I could find my ‘way in life’ only after God lead me to understand that I needed to know who I am as His child. Prayerfully, seeking answers through introspection and a willingness to evaluate/hear with an open heart and mind the comments from others, my heavenly Father leads me on my way of ‘self-discovery’
I found that ‘self-discovery’ in the context of maturing as a Christian believer goes hand in hand – two sides of the same coin. I know myself better now, but in humble acknowledgement of livng God’s design for me, I am aware that I will be on this road of self-discovery until the day I die.
It was once said that the view is pretty good when you stand on the high moral ground. But someone wisecracked that you need to watch the weather up there because while there might be clear skies today, tomorrow there could be a change and you could get lost in an “Holier than thou” fog. Someone else added the rejoinder that your cell phone may not work in those conditions either!
Those of us who call ourselves Christian often like to think we have a handle on this morality thing. We sometimes styl ourselves as the moral watchdogs of the world. In the last few years we have had a wakeup call as the extent of sexual abuse, financial corruption and multiple coverups to ensure that image of the church is untarnished. We cannot claim to stand on high moral ground when we are surrounded by the fog of self-interest and we are no longer listening to those who have been affected. And just in case we are inclined to think that is something for other Christian churches, visit a few Seventh-day Adventist church sites – some of it makes tough reading.
What does humility look like for a corporate church? We like to decry the moral laxity of the world, but have we learned to pray the prayer of the publican?
Jesus said:
Robert Burns, the Scottish poet with a wee gift for the words was sitting in church behind a high society woman who acted grand and toffy-nosed. Burns noticed a little louse crawling across her bonnet. The irony of the situation inspired these words:
We should probably put that in our prayers too.
God takes his time with us. He is patient with our failures to obey Him. Yet He does not abandon us when we suffer the consequences of our failures. That’s God’s grace! If I fail to recognize it as such but instead boast of my accomplishments,then I am as proud as the publican.
For us to truly know ourselves we need to first know Jesus!!! He makes all the difference!!!!
What a marvelous and merciful God we serve.One song writer pens it this way.”When I think of the goodness of Jesus. And what he has done for me. My soul cries out Hallelujah. Thank God for saving me.”
May the Lord help us to humble and examine ourselves. That it’s only through the mercies of God, that we move and have our being.Teach us to be humble Lord.
I “trembled” at the author of our Sabbath School Lesson suggestion that we ask God to humble us. I very much prefer to ask Him for grace that I may humble myself.
I hear you, Steve. It is dangerous to ask God to humble us. However, I like the idea of asking God for grace that we may humble ourselves. We all need much grace!