Examine yourselves
2 Corinthians 13:5-9 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. 6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. 7 Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.
The Corinthians were questioning Paul’s authority as a result of the lies and deception by the false teachers that had infiltrated the church. They were doing the best they could to ruin Paul’s reputation, inflict doubt into their followers, and as a result damage the church. False teachers greatest tools are ones of doubt. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and reprimanded them for great sins in the church, and then challenged them to question themselves. If they found themselves a follower of Christ, that authority came from Paul as an Apostle, or a minister under the authority from Christ.
Do you ever ask yourself those really big questions? Where am I truly in my faith; my walk as a child of God? Am I maturing or simply still as a child nursing on the milk of the Word? Has my relationship ever moved forward with Christ? Are there any evidences in my daily life that I am a disciple for Christ? These big questions if asked humbly before God will bring true answers to the heart through the Holy Spirit. There will be feelings of conviction where He wants you to change. Through the pain, you will find joy in knowing you moved forward in the only relationship that truly matters. These revelations as a result of these self exams will stomp on that doubt when you act on what He shows you. 6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.
So many religions today are all about “feel good faith”. They never speak of the power of the conviction of the Holy Spirit to draw us out of sin and closer to God. These religions are not true religions, but great heresies. Titus 1:13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. These wrong faiths have been around since Christ, but they always lead us to believe we are good people, and never the truth that we are all sinners. When you pray for God to open your eyes in that self exam, your heart will be humbled in the revelation. Your heart will be moved by the sacrifice on the Cross that Christ paid for your sins, and your heart will be drawn closer to him as a result of your obedience. That conviction of sin that He brings is an assurance of Salvation and a release of the doubt Satan planted.
oneminuteministry 