On occasion, when I have mentioned “self-awareness” to certain people professing to be ‘Christian’, they have scoffed and become extremely censorious, claiming that it is a form of narcissism and on a par with self-love and therefore to be shunned by Christians. So, after many years of thinking I must put pen to paper about this subject and not quite getting round to it, I am finally writing this article to dispel such wilful ignorance. I do not use the term “self-awareness” in the way in which a typical secular psychologist might do so, but as a disciple of Christ who seeks to understand himself or herself more deeply as a vital part of sanctification.

There are people who have said to me that because Jesus said that we must deny ourselves (Mark 8:34), therefore the practice of self-awareness goes against His injunction and is thus disobedient and unbiblical. I refute that assertion absolutely. In order to deny one’s “self” one has to be aware of what that “self” consists. This is because large parts of ‘the self’ cleverly conceal themselves from scrutiny as a kind of self-deception. Self-awareness is designed to overturn such self-deception, which is so rife in the world today, every bit as much as deception in general, if not more so! The interesting thing is that when self-deception in a person is undone, that person afterwards tends to be far more impervious to both deceiving others and being deceived by others. So much dissembling, duplicity, subterfuge and artifice have their roots in self-deception (which is a sin), which acts as a progenitor of so many of the world’s ills. The very act of being spiritually regenerated, born (again) from above, thus becoming a disciple of Christ, is the mighty undoer of self-deception. You would think that this would mean that self-deception would be non-existent in the church scene. But the presence of a vast amount of immaturity, or a stubborn refusal to grow, and the fact that many profess to be Christ’s who are not His, means that self-deception continues to be rife even in what calls itself “the church” — although it should not within the body of Christ if all are doing as they should. The practice of self-awareness would address this issue to some considerable degree. However, it cannot be practised in its fullness by those who have not come to faith, though it may lead them to realise the extent of their deficiency and thus lead them to faith if they are serious seekers.

When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves in order to be His followers and disciples, that does not mean that we become a blob with no selfhood whatsoever. Self-denial means denying the corrupt aspects of the self and putting other people before oneself when called to do so. One cannot do either of those things unless one has begun to deal with oneself through becoming aware of what needs dealing with. One does this through critical self-awareness. Self-awareness does not serve to aggrandise the self but to undermine its ignorance and self-centrism.

I usually find that the people who most vehemently react in a negative manner when I make any mention of self-awareness are those who most urgently need to practise it. They sense that self-scrutiny is going to take effort and could reveal to them things that they would rather not know. (Not to mention the fact that the demonic realm is only too happy for these folks to remain ignorant of the true extent of their ignorance!). So they vehemently resist and denounce those who have the impudence to suggest that they may need to do some work on themselves. They say, “I’m spiritual. I have the Holy Spirit so I don’t need your psychological claptrap”. But the Holy Spirit mends our minds as well as our souls. Maturing psychologically is a major part of being truly spiritual.

The biggest resistors of self-awareness are the kind of people who run the world (i.e. the power-elite), who never ask themselves if what they are doing is wrong. This is because they have reached the point where their consciences have been so completely seared that they have made an idol out of their crooked beliefs. Such a person “feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’” (Isaiah 44:20). Such folk have so given themselves over to the ‘dark-side’ that they have been given over by God to rot in their sin and their satanic influence.

The reality is that a genuinely born-again, Holy-Spirit-indwelt regenerated person should know when he or she is behaving like a prat, pillock or plonker, and should be ashamed before God, adjusting their behaviour accordingly, vowing never to behave like that again. But perfection is not ours on this side of glory, so we can mess up — not as the norm but as the exception. If a person is receiving poor or unhealthy teaching, he or she is less likely to be mature, but will be “tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). One of the ways that one matures in one’s thinking and one’s comportment — and being “born from above” means that one will want to mature in that manner — is by practising self-awareness.

So how does practising the art of self-awareness work? Well, first, it means becoming aware of why you say what you say and why you do what you do. It means becoming aware of what really lies behind the surface of your thinking and behaving. All of this is not to become obsessed with yourself — far from it! — but to undermine the wayward elements of your ‘self’, to expose its follies and foibles. Once you see through your bunkum, hogwash and malarkey, then follies and foibles will fall away, defeated. This is how it works when you have the Spirit. When your dross has been exposed through your self-examination and you see it for what it is, then you want nothing more to do with it and will be rid of it forever.

Practising the art of self-awareness is all part of the sanctifying process of “mortification” — putting to death any sinful remnants of the old self, about which I shall have more to say further below. So, first, one has to become aware of why we say what we say and do what we do. But even before that, there has to be a desire to understand why we say what we say and do what we do. That desire is fostered in us by the very fact of our regeneration. Regeneration means that one does not want to live with all the old follies and foibles and that one will have an awareness if one is not behaving correctly which will be disturbing. That awareness should then be transmuted into a passionate motivation to change. One can kickstart that process by challenging oneself honestly through asking questions such as these:

  • “Why am I so resistant to alter my thinking when I know it might be wrong, and why am I so dismissive towards people who might be right and could put me right?”
  • “Why do I get angry so easily?”
  • “Why am I such a hypochondriac forever wallowing in inexplicable ailments and inertia?”
  • “Why do I always have to be the centre of attention?”
  • “Why do I fall so easily for every new bandwagon in the Christian scene?”
  • “Why do I not speak up for the faith when I know that I should do so?”
  • “Why do I not like receiving advice from well-meaning people who are wiser than I am?”
  • “Why am I such an insufferable ‘smart-Alec’ ‘know-it-all’?”
  • “Why do I get jealous so frequently over what turns out to be of no importance?”
  • “Why am I so manipulative and controlling?”
  • “Why do I have so many crude sexual fantasies when I have been married all these years?”
  • “Why can I be so snide in my remarks to others?”
  • “Why am I so often irritable and inconsiderate?”
  • “Why do I feel I so inhibited from calling on the name of the Lord? I want to, but I doubt He will answer”.
  • “Why do I want everyone to be just like me before I will accept them?”
  • “Why am I so frightened of being weak and vulnerable?”
  • “Why do I put on a front of piousness when I go to church, making out as if I am more holy than I really am?”
  • “Why do I find it so hard to be natural instead of being fake. Why do I never let people see the real me?”
  • “Why am I so fearful of so much, even of treading on cracks in the pavement? Why am I so riddled with fearful superstition?”
  • “Why do I think that I am so awful that God would likely have nothing to do with me?”
  • “Why do I tell lies to others when I hate myself for doing so?”
  • …and many more such questions!

The list can be endless and the answers must be sought after. You see, my friends, it takes work to deal with any remnants of the old nature. So many people have a somewhat esoteric view of sanctification and imagine that they can just leave it all to the Spirit to deal with us mystically in some kind of a way. “Poof!” and we will be sorted out without having to lift a finger. It does not work like that. We have to do the work. That work is what is meant when Paul said that we should “put to death” the components of our earthly nature, citing sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry, not to mention anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language, lying, etc., and clothing ourselves instead with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forgiveness and love (please see Colossians 3:5-14; cf. Romans 8:13). We have to do the work. That is what “putting to death” the dross in us is all about.

Now here’s the good bit: As soon as we start to do the work, the Spirit then steps in, gets alongside us (which is the actual meaning of the word “Paraclete” — Greek, Παράκλητος , Parakletos, John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7) and assists us all the way. But we have to do the work, to initiate it first, then the Spirit will do the “Poof!” bit in assistance.😊 That is how our sanctification operates. It is a pagan idea that ‘the gods’ sort you out and you don’t have to do anything. But that is not the Christian way. The Spirit loves hard workers, which is what regenerated people really are, if they are being well-taught and they are serious about their faith. So initiate the work and the Spirit will be the wind under your wings in assistance.

If you now want to say, “Well, I’m probably not really saved, now that I have read that list above, as I am guilty of so much of it and feel so terrible about it”. To which I answer, “Then don’t hesitate. Ask the Lord to save you!” If you really mean it, from the bottom of your heart, then He will save you! He refuses no one, no matter how “terrible” they are or have been, if they are truly penitent. Besides, if you were not either saved or ‘almost saved’ you would not feel at all ‘terrible’ about it. It simply would not bother you. Your shame shows that you still have a conscience and that you can receive forgiveness from the Lord if you call out to Him.

So let us realise the importance of self-awareness in the heart of the faithful disciple of Christ. Christian, know thyself, and discover the necessity of self-awareness to spiritual growth!

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2025
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]

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