Knowing Ourselves Starts with Knowing God

Matthew 16:13-18, ESV

13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

As God reveals Himself to us, so does He reveal ourselves to us. 

As God reveals deeper parts of who He is, so does He reveal deeper parts of who we are.

So many people are on a quest to know and discover who they are. But, when we try to discover who we are apart from God, then that’s all we’ll ever find—who we are, rather than who we are created to be.

Only our Creator knows all of who He created us to be.

Everything a person can discover apart from God is simply surface level—what we can see, feel, and touch. On the surface, Peter (Simon) was a son and a brother and a husband and a fisherman. He was adventurous and rash and quick to speak. Those things were knowable at a surface level.

But, as he grew in his relationship with and understanding of Jesus, Jesus revealed more and more to him about who he was at a much deeper level—at a spiritual level.

Our deepest identity is a spiritual one—and therefore it can never be “discovered” apart from a relationship with Jesus. It must be revealed.

Knowing ourselves must begin with knowing God.