The more God shows you about himself, the more you will see yourself as he sees you.1 It is not possible for God to reveal more of himself to you without revealing more of yourself to you. He is the Spirit of truth,2 he knows all things,3 and the more about him you learn, the more you will learn about everything, including yourself.4
As God reveals more of himself to you, you will see yourself differently than you did before. Whether these differences indicate aspects of yourself that are better or worse than you thought, their revelation will result in a greater burden to you than your prior understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, placing upon you the duty to do more and better than you did before.
You may come to see some aspects of yourself as better than you thought.5 The revelation of greater capabilities, whether realized or potential, will require increased performance in order for you to retain a conscience free from guilt.6
The things that God reveals to you will, in many cases, show that you are not as good as you thought,7 and do not deserve as much as you expected.8 You will see that some of your merits are less valuable than you think,9 at least some of your faults are worse than you think, and that you probably have more faults than you knew. This revelation is necessary for you to find the motive and means to become better than you are and deserve more than you presently do.10 It is only through seeing more of the differences between you and God that you can know the way to become more like him and muster the willingness to do so. However, human nature interprets all such downward revisions of selfworth as negative, and those who have not yet learned the value of correction will tend to avoid and resent them. Take courage and be humble. God only corrects those who have the power to implement his corrections.11
What God reveals to you will change the value you perceive in who you are and who you aren’t. As a result, you will see character qualities that must be added, modified, or removed in order to reconcile to your new understanding of God.
When God reveals anything more to you about how he is, it is always as an invitation for you to choose to be more like him in that way. You have to make any changes required to reconcile yourself with the new information he shows you about himself in order for him to continue to show you more. The more you learn about God, the more you will learn about yourself, and the more you respond appropriately to what you learn about yourself, the more you will continue to learn about God.12
Footnotes
- 1. They who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace; (D&C 76:94) ↩
- 2. The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; (Doctrine & Covenants 93:26) ↩
- 3. O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it. (2 Nephi 9:20) ↩
- 4. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalm 36:9) ↩
- 5. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. (Luke 1:52) Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. (James 1:9) ↩
- 6. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:48) ↩
- 7. “...the knowledge of the goodness of God...awaken[s] you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state.” (Mosiah 4:5) ↩
- 8. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:7-11) ↩
- 9. When Daniel was shown more of God’s glory, it so dramatically advanced his idea of goodness that what he previously felt were his best attributes now seemed like utter filth: “[My] comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” (Daniel 10:8) ↩
- 10. And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27) ↩
- 11. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7) ↩
- 12. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:6) ↩