The Forgotten Spiritual Discipline: Introspection
March 9, 2026
March 9, 2026
Abstract: Mike McKinley encourages pastors and all Christians to remember the spiritual discipline of introspection, since even those closest to us cannot see the condition of our heart. McKinley highlights three aspects of the Puritan approach to introspection: first, it must be guided by Scripture; second, it should look for graces as well as sins; and third, it should be an integral aspect of preaching God’s Word.
Think for a moment about your outward appearance. How is your hair looking today? Are those Pilates classes paying off? Did you remember to take all the tags off the new shirt you are wearing? Is there something stuck in your teeth? These questions are hard to answer because most of the time we cannot see most of our physical selves, and so we often must solicit the input of a trusted friend. But even then, we all know that a friend’s input can be of limited value. Perhaps they didn’t take the time to look all that carefully, or they themselves are color-blind, or maybe they just said what they thought we wanted to hear so that our feelings wouldn’t be hurt. This is why we have mirrors in our world, so that we can look at ourselves and make corrections as necessary.
Scripture depicts humanity as a race of people who are under the reign of sin and death (Rom. 5:12–14) and whose hearts are deceived (Jer. 17:9). As it is with our physical appearance, so it is with our spiritual condition—we often do not walk around with an accurate picture of ourselves. This means that growth in godliness will require some input from outside of us. Like a good friend telling us that we are not, in fact, “pulling off” that new hairstyle, other people in our lives can often see things about us that we cannot perceive on our own. It is for this reason that the Bible encourages those who desire wisdom to encourage input and even rebuke from others (e.g., Prov. 13:18, 27:6).
But even our closest friends and keenest observers can only know so much about us, and so our understanding of ourselves cannot be totally dependent on outsiders’ perspectives. After all, others can only know what we tell them and what they see in public; they have no access (unless we give it to them) to some of the unattractive things that go on deep down in our hearts—our anger, fears, doubts, and temptations. They cannot see the ways that we have (often unknowingly) ordered our inner lives to make room for attitudes and behaviors that we do not wish to acknowledge or change.
Thus, it is no surprise that the Bible commends not only soliciting input from others in the church, but also the practice of introspection or self-examination. Believers are encouraged to keep their hearts “with all vigilance” (Prov. 4:23), which seems to demand at the very least careful attention to what is going on within them. Paul told Timothy that faithfulness would require him to “keep a close watch” on himself (1 Tim. 4:16), and he warned the Ephesian elders to “pay careful attention” not only to the flock, but to themselves (Acts 20:28). In light of these commands, Christians have long engaged in the practice of intently “looking in the mirror,” searching their hearts before God in light of the teachings of Scripture.
In 1962, J.I. Packer mourned the decline of introspection in the church, writing that believers in his day “constantly give evidence of our neglect of this secret discipline by unprincipled and irresponsible public conduct.”11 .JI Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Crossway, 1990), page 108. I’d contend that the situation today is even worse. Ours is an age that does not encourage followers of Christ to engage in a careful examination of the state of their souls. After all, introspection involves patient attention and a willingness to participate in (sometimes) brutally honest self-criticism. We have been discipled by our entertainment culture to shy away from practices that confer their best gifts in response to steadfast effort over an extended period of time. Our instincts have been formed by popular psychology so that we are suspicious of any exercise that would suggest that there is something wrong with us “below the surface.” We are slow to believe that the bad habits, unkind words, and foul moods—and all the things that we would like to change about ourselves—are not the result of how we have been shaped and victimized by forces outside of us, but find their source in our hearts. As Packer noted, this neglect of self-examination is made evident in our lack of private and public holiness.
If pastors are to help their congregations recover a healthy practice of introspection, there may be no better guides than the Puritans. They aimed to pursue self-knowledge in their personal devotional life, and their pastors sought to encourage the practice through their public ministry. John Owen wrote the following about the need for self-examination:
Many people live in the dark to themselves all their days; whatever else they know, they know not themselves. They know their outward estates, how rich they are, and the condition of their bodies as to health and sickness they are careful to examine; but as to their inward being, and their principles as to God and eternity, they know little of nothing of themselves as they ought, or are acquainted with the evils of their own hearts as they ought. Yet the whole course of their obedience, and consequently of their eternal condition, depends on this. This, therefore, is our wisdom; and it is a needful wisdom if we have any design to please God, or to avoid that which is a provocation of his glory.22 .John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Three Classic Works by John Owen. Edited by Kelly M Kapic and Justin Taylor (Crossway, 2006), pages 238-9.
Much of historical memory has saddled the Puritans with a reputation for sin-sniffing and hypervigilance that probably reflects more about how dull the church in our day has become when it comes to matters of the conscience. The Puritan sensitivity to the deceitfulness of sin and the danger of a neglected conscience is almost certainly closer to what we see modeled for believers in Scripture than the self-acceptance and self-esteem that flourishes in many churches in our day.
With that said, here are three aspects of the Puritan approach to the duty of introspection that can help us:
Scripture serves as the rails upon which helpful self-examination can progress. Under normal circumstances, our conscience is a gift of God, serving as his lieutenant in the human soul. But in this fallen world, even such a good gift operates under the weakening effects of sin, and so believers must be wary of the tyranny of a poorly calibrated conscience. Much of pastoral ministry is spent dealing with believers whose consciences are either too sensitive (and thus constantly plaguing them with guilt and shame) or not nearly sensitive enough (thus making room for behaviors that shouldn’t be tolerated).
Thus, for the Puritans, only the Word of God could serve as the final authority in all matters. Richard Baxter wrote,
Make not your own judgments or consciences your law, or the maker of your duty; which is but the discerner of the law of God, and of the duty which he maketh you, and of your own obedience or disobedience to him. There is a dangerous error grown too common in the world, that a man is bound to do every thing which his conscience telleth him is the will of God; that every man must obey his conscience, as if it were the lawgiver of the world; whereas, indeed, it is not ourselves, but God, that is our lawgiver. And conscience is . . . appointed . . . only to discern the law of God, and call upon us to observe it: and an erring conscience is not to be obeyed, but to be better informed.33 .Quote in Packer, pp. 112-113.
When we think of careful self-examination in the Puritan tradition, we tend to think of time spent examining one’s attitudes and actions for signs of sin or moral compromise. And while that is a significant part of the work (because we tend to be most blind toward our failings), there are also works of grace that may be going on below the surface in a believer’s heart. It is hardly humble to fail to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit within us and give him the praise that he is due. After all, Paul’s oft-quoted instruction to the Corinthians that they ought to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5) anticipates that the conclusion will be that, in fact, they are. As Richard Sibbes reminds us, “We must have two eyes, one to see imperfections in ourselves and others, the other to see what is good.”44 .Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Banner of Truth, 2021), p. 35.
The high value that the Puritans placed on self-examination led them to be masters of application in their preaching. They knew that gospel propositions left sitting on the surface of the heart rarely bore good fruit, and so it was the job of the preacher to plant the truth deep down into the soil of their hearts through application. This, it seems to me, is the great labor of preaching. Understanding the message and grammar of a text may take some time, but it is normally not a monumental feat. But it is quite a task to proclaim the truth of a text to one’s hearers in such a way as to drive them to apply it to their own hearts, so that the text strikes them as God speaking to them, driving them to examine their beliefs and loves and conduct in light of it.
In conclusion, I would suggest two things to pastors looking to encourage the discipline of healthy introspection in their congregations. The first would be to give specific instructions to self-examination as part of your sermon application. Instead of saying simply, “God’s people should be patient,” try something like,
Christian, how do you lack patience? How can you more fully appreciate God’s patience with you, so that you might grow in patience toward others? Take time this week to prayerfully examine your life and ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify a few times when you’ve been sinfully impatient. Confess that sin and ask the Spirit to help you change. Do that each day this week and see what the Lord shows you.
This leads to the other thing that a pastor should do, which is to practice healthy self-examination in his own private devotional life. Our preaching will not drive people to deep examination if we are content to remain at a surface level in our dealings with our own hearts. Packer summarizes the matter with characteristic clarity,
Whence comes the skill to apply God’s truth appropriately in preaching? From the experience of having God apply his truth powerfully to oneself. Ordinarily, said the Puritans, it is those whose own consciences are more deeply exercised by God’s truth who have the most power to awaken the consciences of others by prudent and piercing applications.55 .Packer, 117.