4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Now we’re getting personal. This is where we get at the flaws in our character — our sins and our excuses, rationalizations and justifications for them. This is where we get all the negative stuff about ourselves out on the table and figure out what to do with it. It sounds scary, and it is scary, but it is also freeing. It will ultimately involve others, but right now, it’s yourself, paper and a pen.
The hardest thing about taking a thorough moral inventory of ourselves is that we have buried our worst traits under piles and piles of rationalizations and blame so it becomes hard for us to get at this all by ourselves. After all, we’ve learned to live with ourselves the way we are, so we’ve learned to cope with our sins and our justifications. That’s why this needs to be a fearless inventory. We must leave no stone unturned, and when we pick up one stone and find another one underneath it, we have to turn over that one, and the next, and the next, and the next. Like a child who keeps asking “Why?” after every answer, we need to keep questioning why we do what we do. Keep asking “Why?”
We’re learning about ourselves. If all we do is list our sins, we are not really helping ourselves. About the only thing you can do with a list of sins is stop doing them, and who among us has the will power to do that? That is mere legalism, and legalism is the last thing we want to foster here.
Our job is to find the holes in our character because they hold the keys to discovering His strength in our lives. Our weaknesses are really our strength, because it is in them that we find God’s power. That’s why Paul says he glories in his weaknesses because when he is weak in himself then he can be strong in the Lord.
So think of this step as an unraveling. We start with the glaring sins and we start pulling on them until we find the deeper needs and holes in our lives that they are attached to. Keep pulling. This is a big ball of ugliness attached to something we can open up to the Lord and maybe even experience some healing and deliverance.
We have a huge advantage here if we are already in a relationship with the Lord.
As we enter into this step, that we can do this fearlessly because we already know we are loved and forgiven. Whatever we find in this process will not change our status as a child of God. And if you aren’t in a relationship with the Lord, there’s no better time than now to start one by accepting His free gift of salvation to all on the cross.
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned unclean
How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me
— Charles H. Gabriel
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