Examination
- Melissa Burks
- Oct 10, 2024
- 2 min read
Daily Reading: 2 Corinthians 12-13
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Devotional Thought: “Make sure that you are walking with Jesus today!” This basically is what Paul tells "the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints.” (2 Corinthians 1:1) In speaking to Christians, he warns them that they must continue to live by faith. His concern leads to some interesting thoughts:
Is it possible to once be in “the faith” and then be out of “the faith”? What does it mean to be out of “the faith”? If Christ is once “in” us how can he then not be “in” us?
If we, after deciding to invite Christ into our lives, decide to un-invite him, will he honor our freedom and our request? I believe he will. The question then becomes, "How do we un-invite him?" It is not through a single sin or even a series of sins that we reject Christ. It is through choosing to make sin our master once again. If we do so, we are no longer under grace but under law. (See Romans 6-8)
How do we examine / test ourselves? Just ask some simple questions and give honest answers: Do we have the behaviors and values of Christ? Do we love like Jesus? Are we forgiving and merciful? Are we completely obedient?
What if we fail the test? What should we do then? Do what Jesus told the church in Revelation to do: “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first” (Revelation 2:5).
God is not telling us to examine ourselves so that we live in fear. He wants us to live in confidence. Our salvation is not dependent upon our performance but wholly due to grace. Are we receiving it at this moment?
Prayer: "Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling." I know that I will never be saved by my works. But help me, O Lord, to examine my works to see if I am in the faith. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: Psalm 116:5-9
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Comments