Topic: SELF EXAMINATION

I want you to ask yourself, “Am I growing in the things of God at all, or have I been stagnant?” This self-examination is important for each of us, if we are going to fully develop into all that God wants us to be. Yes, I know there are people who don’t think we can honestly examine ourselves to determine how we are really doing in our walk of faith. They think we should allow others to do that for us, especially since other people often see some of the things that we don’t see in ourselves.

Indeed, other people can be of tremendous help to us in highlighting for us some areas of our lives in which we are growing and those in which we are not growing at all. But we cannot totally rely on under people’s evaluation and submission about our walk with God. That is because their knowledge of us and what is going on in our lives is limited. They can only know as much as we and God allow them to know about us. Besides, their evaluation of our walk with God can only be as relevant and trustworthy as their own understanding of the Christian faith.

So, with God’s help and a heart of sincerity, we can do a prettier job of evaluating our own walk with God than any other person can. What I am saying is that we can look into the Scriptures and see for ourselves the degree to which our lives now conform to the likeness of the person of Jesus Christ and what necessary corrections we must make. Yes, we can look into the Scriptures and see for ourselves whether we are growing in the things of the Spirit or not.

In one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, he says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (1Cor 13:11-12NIV) Now what Paul says in this text applies not just to his life as a natural man but also to his life as a Christian. So, just as this man was able to tell that he had grown in the things of this life, he was also able to tell that he had grown in the things of the Spirit at the time he wrote this letter.

Fine, as he said in another letter, it was not that he had already grown into the fullness of God’s desire for him. But he could tell that he had already made some progress and that he was still very much on the path of becoming everything God wanted him to be and doing everything He wanted him to do. (Cf. Phil 3:12-14) And how did he know these things? It was by examining his life using the Scriptures. The more he compared his life with what the Scriptures said, the more he was able to know the extent to which he had grown and the extent to which he needed to change.

Now we also are expected to learn to do likewise. We are expected to daily examine our lives with the Scriptures, so that we can see to what extent we have become like our Lord and to what extent we have not conformed to His likeness. We don’t need to wait for others to tell us that we are growing or that we are becoming worse before we take advantage of God’s word to encourage and purify ourselves. If we are truly concerned about becoming all that God wants us to be and doing all that He wants us to do, we will on our own commit ourselves to self-examination.

So, brothers and sisters, let us move on to maturity, leaving the elementary things of Christ behind. It is well with your soul.

Life Application: What is one area of your life that you can honestly examine against the Scriptures this week, and what correction might God be asking you to make?