Embracing Moral Inventory for Spiritual Growth

Introspection often involves kind of rumination where I'm just spiraling around generally over negative things that I've have said or that I've have done that does not lead to self-awareness in fact uh Tasha Ur a researcher actually found that people who are more introspective are actually less self-aware than others in a moral inventory this is not a continued spiral it's very limited very focused um awareness this is part of why writing is uh writing something down is really careful writing prevents um Limitless rumination. [00:02:28]

Introspection is something that I do all by myself the moral inventory is something I do with God our key scripture passage here from Psalm 139 search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts see if there's any offensive way in me and Lead Me in the way Everlasting I'm not doing this I'm asking God's help and God and I do this together introspection tends to be quite vague and general and cloudy the moral inventory is quite specific um one step at a time. [00:03:10]

We all love to take inventory of other people that's why Jesus said why do you say to your neighbor uh why do you notice the speck in your neighbor's eye and you don't notice that there's a plank in your own own or say to your neighbor let me take that Speck out of your eye while there's a plank in your own hypocrite first take the plank out of your eye that's what we're doing in step four we're doing exactly what Jesus talked about we are seeking to take the beam the plank out of our eye. [00:04:06]

I don't Begin by listing things that I remember that I have done wrong Begin by listing things that I remember other people have done wrong to me now this is absolutely brilliant it's counterintuitive but here's the thing if I step on your toes you might say ouch I may not remember that but if you step on my toes I will remember that very vividly for sometimes why because I feel the pain of it I don't feel the pain when I I feel the pain of harm that's done to me much more vividly than the pain that I inflict on other people. [00:04:54]

When it comes to um doing the 12 Steps that's where we actually start and I'm go to a little bit more detail about this but get a piece of paper and then you'll want to um uh put it in four columns and the first one is I resent and then the second one is for what was the event that took place and then the third column is because what was threatened and then the fourth column is where we get down to business and that is um what was my response what was my Parton this what did I do wrong. [00:05:36]

I know I know I know everything inside of us pushes away at this particular Step at the fourth step just feels overwhelming let me tell you it's a bit like doing something that you've been putting off for a long time and when you finally get around to it because you didn't want to go there part of way you find that is when I begin to take action when I take a Next Step there it's not impossible it's actually doing and energy begins to flow when I start taking action in an area especially here looking at myself looking at my life that I have been neglected for a long time. [00:07:25]

If you find yourself really resisting step four you might go back to step three and just work through have I really turned my life and will over the care of God or you might go back to Step One have I really acknowledge have I come to believe that I am powerless over my ultimate problems my life really is unmanageable so you might want to revisit earlier steps if you find yourself pushing back but as you begin to do this uh you'll discover actually it's doable that's for sure what I felt even though it took a while. [00:08:03]

What you might notice as you look at uh uh what part of me was threatened and what was my response you might have noticed this as I was talking with you certain patterns will emerge where then I begin to see oh yeah it's not just that there's a random series of uh sins bad behavior wrong thinking and so on my part there are areas of particular sensitivity and there are habits of um attack or withdrawal the way that I use words the way I respond to other people um that I begin to notice after a time. [00:11:07]

Step four as after I go through it and I look at it and notice the patterns on the connections is part of what I will use to identify because knowledge of our errors is the beginning of our Salvation the Apostle Paul is running the church at Corinth I think it's 1 Corinthians 11:28 talking about uh communion and he says let a person examine thems that's what we're talking about so in step four those categories those columns and I do that work and when I'm all through with it then I can take a look and find out what part of me are most easily threatened and what are the patterns my defects of character that I will especially need to look at. [00:12:02]

I know I know I know this one can be a bit overwhelming I promise you it's doable it is not writing our inventory it's not taking our inventory that is painful it's resisting it keep coming back it works if you work it. [00:12:41]

We're a community that believes in spiritual growth one day at a time and a part of that is prayer so there is a team of of us that meet each weekday Monday through Friday to pray for the become new community and viewers just like yourself if you have a prayer request we'd love to pray for you you can text it to us at 855 888 0444 or email it to us at connect at become new.com thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time. [00:13:24]