Examining Ourselves

 ^5(M)Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; ^(N)examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you ^(O)fail the test?
 ⁶But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.



2 Corinthians 13:5-6


Sometimes when I read the New Testament broken in pieces I get the feeling that scripture becomes watered down, only the rosey flowers are show in bloom. But when I read the scripture in context I get the true urgency.  In the passage, I get the sense that Paul is almost falling out of his pants!  He's going back to Corinth for the 3rd time and he said that "I will not spare anyone..."  He means business.  Yes, he closes the section with lots of love and grace but the meat of the message is... get your act together, EXAMINE YOURSELVES!!!  Don't fail the test of faith!


In this watered down day in age of Christianity I'm a little concerned that most of us will fail this faith test.  We know salvation isn't based off our performance but on His sacrifice.  And this gift is freely given to those who believe.  So the underlining question is... what does it mean to believe?  Does the line go beyond just proclaiming our faith?  Or is faith and believing two different things?  Can we really want to believe with all our minds but our heart prevents us from allowing the Holy Spirit in?


Examining ourselves should be a daily process.  Some days I believe we'll fair better than others but we can't lose momentum.  We need to strive towards God and if that means momentary lapse of heart we need to take all of that in stride.  We are not perfect and cannot allow mistakes to drive us away from all that He is.  


So part of examining ourselves is checking our motives, wants, desires, sinfulness, successes, failures... looking at every single thing we do and ask the question, does God approve?  Would Jesus do this?  How am I honoring God?  Or am I just feeding my selfishness?  Examining ourselves keeps us headed in the right direction, not if we arrived.


Father God, thank You for being my cloud by day and pillar by night.  I need You in every way to guide my every step.  I don't want to wander around in darkness like I used to.  Light my every step, Lord.  In the most wonderful name of Christ Jesus I pray, Amen!