Self Examination

I finished my 3rd Seminary course this week, Principles of Biblical Interpretation. It was a very interesting study and I learned a lot about the history of hermeneutics and the different schools of it. I had a 31 page notebook this time which contained anywhere from 5 to 10 assignments on each page. It was very time consuming and lots of reading was involved. The very last assignment on page 31of the notebook caused me to do a lot of soul-searching. It was on the topic of self-life. The last chapter of the book, Knowing the Scriptures, dealt with this subject. It listed the below 7 different forms of self-life and listed Scripture references for each one:
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1. Self-righteousness or sef-trust; as the great hindrance to the acceptance of God’s saviour and salvation (Romans 10:1-3).

2. Self-dependence or self-help. Even after conversion there is a constant tendency to rely upon our own efforts (Galatians 2:20; Zech. 4:6; John 15:4-6)

3. Self-seeking (Jeremiah 45:5; 1 Corinthians 10:33). Constant proneness also to seek self-promotion, advancement, emolument (Matthew 16:24, 25)

4. Self-pleasing. To set before ourselves our own gratification and indulgence is perilous to spiritual life (Romans 14:1-3).

5. Self-will. The center of all self life is a carnal, selfish will; and hence the need of its absolute renunciation (James 4:13-15; 1 Peter 4:2; John 6:38).

6. Self-defense. We find it hard to abstain from vindicating and justifying ourselves instead of leaving it to God (1 Peter 2:12, 15, 19-23; 3:16; 4:19).

7. Self-glory. All seeking of human praise detracts from the glory of God and is idolatrous (Daniel 5:23; John 8:50; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Galatians 6:14). Though the forms of self life are legion, all may be included under the above seven heads.
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As I studied and considered this list, I felt an overwhelming conviction of guilt. After a careful examination of my own life, I found reflections of myself in some, if not all of them. I've always been a pretty self reliant person and I think to an extent that is a good thing, however, when we leave God out of the equation that's when we stumble. As a result of my self-examination, I decided to once again deactivate my Facebook account. Not only was I spending way too much time on there, I was also guilty of too much self-promotion; uploading photos, bragging about places I had been, posting songs and videos of myself singing. I wanted to give glory to God but it appeared too much like I was giving more glory to myself. I don't ever want to put the Lord second or overshadow Him. Perhaps one day I'll reactivate and try again but for now I'm just going to leave it alone. Oh, and I've also got a sermon burning inside of me concerning this whole subject.