To Know God, To Know Self

"Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts; the knowledge of God and of ourselves." This is the first line in Calvin's Institutes, Battles translation. How true Calvin's words still ring. There is no wisdom of real value that doesn't include these two aspects. To know God is the foremost, and to know God is to know ourselves better, more clearly. For we learn and see by comparison. To set ourselves alongside God is to set up a model of learning. How do we match up to God? How do we see God in comparison to ourselves? Are we thoroughly consistent to the way God made us and intended us to continue? That is what God's perfectness is all about. He never changes, not even slightly. He is perfectly sufficient in Himself and will continue to be. There is no reason for Him to change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. There is no variableness in Him nor shifting shadow. He cannot change. And because He is God, He is holy, that is, He is totally unlike us. We change. We violate our nature regarding the way God made us to be. We were made in His image. We were to reflect perfectly His moral being. Not to do so is what sin is, what it is to be unholy--not to be like God. He is holy, that is, He never violates His being, and so is unlike us. He both does not and cannot be unholy. I wish I could be like God. I wish I could be stable and perfectly trusting in Him, never doubting or second guessing. Never changing from what He made me to be.