The Bread of Life
Daily Devotionals - Prayers - Spiritual Growth - Words of Wisdom
 

Today's Devotional

True Self-Awareness Leads to Repentance (Luke 15: 11-19)

“Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 
And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ 
So he divided to them his livelihood. 
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 
But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 
Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” (Luke 15;11-19)

The word self-awareness always makes us think that we have to focus on ourselves, our talents and abilities. 
It is associated with the sense of becoming paranoid and obsessed with improving ourselves. 
Rather, it is a way of examining ourselves, waking up, and realizing who and where we are, no matter where it is. 
It’s the door to repentance, transformation, and alignment with God’s ways when we do it right. 
In these verses we just read, the prodigal son had just such a moment of coming to himself, we read, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!’
Before he had come to himself, he was in a filthy, pathetic pig pen, still thinking he was right. 
Then, in an instant, he woke up, suddenly becoming willing to do something he had not been willing to do in months or even years: run home to the very Father he had sinned against. 
So he knew that the way to get the best from his father is to confess that he had sinned and repent. 
His self-awareness led him to humility and repentance. 
The book of Proverbs also guides us toward the wisdom of self-awareness. 
It is a book of a treasure trove of wisdom for those seeking self-awareness. 
It provides a guide for us to know how to hike wisely wherever we go in a broken world. 
Through all the Gospel, it is revealed to us our tendencies toward pride, foolishness, and self-deception, but it also shows us the path to wisdom. 
Wisdom cannot come without self-awareness, which shows us our need for it in the first place. 
When we exam ourselves, we know the sins we are committing, with or without intensions and we repent to God, praying and asking the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to guide us how to avoid falling in them again. 
In the book of Proverbs, those who do not have self-awareness are called fools. 
In Proverb twenty six, verse twelve, we are warned not to see ourselves wise in our own eyes and there is hope for a fool than for a person who sees himself wise in his own eyes. 
Of all of the fools, is the fool who is not self-aware, becoming wise in his own eyes. 
Self-awareness begins with humility, acknowledging that we don’t know everything. 
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. 
Wisdom is not about intelligence or having all the answers, but it is about waking up to the limitations of self and recognizing our need for God’s guidance.
True self-awareness creates the pathway to true repentance. 
If we don’t know we’re sick, we won’t listen to a doctor. 
If we don’t know we’re lost, we won’t ask for a savior. 
May we have the courage to acknowledge our blind spots, and humble ourselves in joyful alignment with the wisdom of God. 
The more we come to know ourselves in the light of these truths, the more we will come to know God better and more authentically. 
Amen.

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