On occasion it seems a good and right activity to take a sort of self-inventory. These times of self-examination usually occur during times of either extreme tumult or stagnancy, which we tend to refer to as 'moments of clarity.' But at such times as these, do we ask the right questions?
We tend to look at goals, bank accounts, or relationships as the evaluators. We weigh and consider time wasted or opportunities missed. Failures and flaws of character as well as strengths in virtue and charity are put into the mix as we attempt to garner an accurate estimation of life progress and skill. But, again, are these the right questions to ask?
The flaw in such reasoning comes not because we are ignoring that which is important. On the contrary, each of these is a vital category of life and worthy of thorough consideration; however, it seems that we are running under faulty presuppositions. After all, what is should never be used as the line for what ought. That's like using a squiggly line for a level or a dirty glass for a telescope.
It would seem that another approach is in order. For this consider the analogy of a couple lost in their car and leveling a house. While the interior of the car possesses all the requisite gauges to determine speed, range and the like, it is the incoming information that helps to direct the course. It is the information from the GPS, from the couples' eyes, etc. that inform of correct direction and sight. Or think of the plumb line or the level: it isn't the house that determines what is straight or true but. It is the level that reveals crookedness.
In the same weigh it cannot be self-examination that reveals the unevenness of a life or the deficiencies in direction; it is God and His Holy Word. Holding our lives up to the Word of God exposes both virtue and vice while it points the way of truth which is Christ. Because of this there is no better source than Gods Holy Word as the surest footing and perfect path.
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