(Part Five)It would seem that there are few things more important than truly knowing yourself.Obviously you are going to live with yourself for a while so it's a good thing to know a little bit about who you are. It's one of the differences really between being sane and being delusional. If a person doesn't really know who he is, that means he thinks he is someone he's not, which some people would call being out of your mind.It's funny though or maybe sad is a better way to put it, with the knowledge of oneself being so essential that it at the same time is so elusive.If you have ever sat down with a friend who is having problems, you know that is so typical, they can be so intelligent in every other area of life, they can totally surprise you with their knowledge of the most obscure facts and yet still seem almost completely clueless as to who they really are.I remember reading Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos a while back. He noted that it's strange that while there is only one generally accepted theory of the cause and cure of pneumococcal pneumonia and only one generally accepted theory of the orbits of the planets and the gravitational attraction of our galaxy there are literally hundreds of different theories about the way people work.John Calvin, he explains one reason why."...it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinizing himself."I'll give you one example of how Calvin says that works."We always seem to ourselves so righteous and upright and wise and holy - this pride is innate in all of us - unless by clear proofs we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity. Moreover, we are not thus convinced if we look merely to ourselves and not also to the Lord, who is the sole standard by which this judgment must also be measured."In other words, I tend to think that I'm a pretty great guy when I just look at myself by myself or look at myself in comparison with others. If I'm going to see myself for who I really am, I need a big old demonstration that I'm not and the clearest proof I get of that comes from looking at the character of God.I guess to me, practically one thing this reminds me is that if preaching or counseling really is going to be helpful to people it has to be God-centered. If a preacher tries to be practical by man-centered kinds of sermons, if a counselor tries to be helpful by focusing on the person alone and giving nice little tips about how to have a better life, no matter how kind-hearted or well-intentioned the preacher or counselor is, they are hurting the person they are trying to help in profound ways because if that person really is going to overcome whatever problems he is struggling with, he has to see himself for who he really is and he won't see that, unless he sees God for who He is.