The dangers of introspection

Introspection is important but dangerous.  For the Christian, self examination leads to self-awareness which often leads to repentance.  It can also lead to despair.

How does that happen? One mistake occurs when we stake too much on how sorry we feel for how bad we have been.   The problem is that we can never feel bad enough.

An emotional response of remorse is right.  But how much is enough? On one hand, it is notoriously difficult to get our feelings to correspond to the gravity of our transgressions. On the other hand there is no degree of grief great enough to atone for real moral failures.

Therein lies the problem. Atonement does not come through my tears. Atonement comes through  Christ´s blood.  The intensity and fervor of my sorrow does not make me right with God.  Only Christ does that. We depend on an “alien righteousness” (Martin Luther) “that is the righteousness of another instilled from without.  Through faith in Christ, therefore, Christ´s righteousness becomes our righteousness and all that he has becomes ours; rather, he himself becomes ours.” This work of Christ, not our particular feelings about it, is the fountain and foundation of our forgiveness.
There is a danger of dwelling on the subjective at the expense of the objective.

“The objective dwell with the reality itself, the subjective deals with our sensations or feelings about reality…”

“To introspectively dwell on “feelings” within oneself is a subjectivism that in worship or prayer leads away from the higher reality of God’s objective presence and to the lower reality of our own psychic (mental-emotional) and sensory beings.”

(Real Presence by Leanne Payne p.68)
The consequence of too much stress on personal feelings is we loose sight of God´s gift. “This subjectivism obscures, in the case of confession and the ensuing reception of God´s pardon, the very grace, joy, and peace mediated by the Holy Spirit, and therefore the reality of God´s forgiveness.” “To repent and turn from sin and the self is a matter of the will, not the feelings.  If we keep that in perspective  we will avoid the dangers of depending on our selves for what can only come from God.