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(5) Examine yourselves as
to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you
not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless
indeed you are disqualified.
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Do you not know yourselves? -
We have all learned many things through trial and suffering
over the years, but it has not been all pain and agony. At
various times, we have abounded with joy, contentment, peace, and growth as well, and we should
thank God who has engineered and authored these blessings.
However, beyond honestly identifying how far we have come, we
also need to recognize and acknowledge the stony parts that
are still in us, repenting before God with our whole
hearts.
As Paul says in I
Corinthians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have
from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought
at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's." To paraphrase, do we not realize the
magnitude of our relationship with God and the obligation this puts us under to live every
second as an example of God's way of life? God's people are
not ordinary in any sense!
Solomon writes in Proverbs
4:23, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it
spring the issues of life." The heart, the mind, is the
storehouse of our character. We must spend time in meditation
and in prayer asking for insight from God to reveal
to us exactly who we are—inside—where normally only God
can see. We must implore Him for understanding about who we
really are right now in His eyes. We need this information to
understand properly our relationship with Him.
This is a solemn and sobering process, but it
should not be something we fear. Still, we must come to God in
this process with humility and a heart ready to repent immediately of flaws that He shows
us. This process is not superficial by any means, but one
designed to reach to the very heart of our being.
Remember, God may be a consuming fire to His
enemies (Hebrews
12:29), but to His own children, He is a boundless
provider and loving Father (Ephesians
3:14-21). He is quick to forgive if we freely confess our
sins to Him (I
John 1:9).
Greg Smith
Excerpted from:
What Does 'Examine Yourselves' Mean?
Related Topics:
Humility
Meditation
Relationship With God
Repentance
Repentance, Motivation For
Repentance, Opportunity for
Commentary
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New King James
Version copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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