Examine yourselves...

(2Corinthians 13:5)  “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!”

Here we have an instruction and it asks us to gaze into the mirror and to be brutally honest with ourselves about ourselves. It is a reflection test and must be stripped of any aids; make-up will not help but only hinder our advances in working out our own standings before a Holy God. This inspection calls for brutal honesty and any application of base will hinder our assessment. Who I am, and how I am perceived by others must be part of the evaluation, however the pressing issue is to test myself in the light of “faith” and how I stand in that regard with my commitment towards God. Do I serve Him, or pretend to serve Him so that I may benefit today for today or am I driven by something far deeper, which is the laying down of my life for the sake of my Christian family? Because if we have the Spirit of Christ, if Jesus is in us we must now learn to behave differently in every area of our lives; hence the test! Rebellion to that call must begin to dissipate into an afterthought of the Oldman’s conduct.

Prior to arriving at this understanding we all lived in a very rebellious state towards God but thankfully the mercies of God covered me even back then and it was often the rod that was used to drive folly from me. I was an aggressive, unfaltering, self-centered individual and one who shunned authority at all costs. It was all part of my sinful character which God patiently allowed to play out in order to teach me how desperately I needed Him, bless His brilliance. He is ever wise even when others only see destruction, He adequately works miracles into any given situation and graciously saves individuals from themselves; this is my testimony; it took me 22 years to come to that understanding and the need to find forgiveness for my sins. And although many of those unwanted traits of my old character miraculously seemed to disappear without any effort on my part. After a while those hindering traits would look to rear their head and dominate any given situation when challenged. Nothing more than rebellion!

I have noticed through my experiences and encounters with other Christians that many deep rooted traits from the old man, our old lives prior to salvation sadly often never leave us, which can be very damaging not only for ourselves but for those who witness our appalling behaviour. This however does not excuse us in the light of being covered by the grace of God. Sure we find repentance for our actions from day to day in and through the finished work of Calvary; this is commonly known as part of our ongoing daily sanctification. Our lives must be filled with a measure of self-reflection as we have been commanded to put on the mind of Christ. In other words we must change the way we once conducted ourselves and apply ourselves to that change not with a carnal understanding, which at times may even seem as if we are doing the right thing on a moral level, if it is contrary to the mind of Christ it will only ever ensnare us deeper into our rebellion of self.

It is easier to pick out a fruit that is marred on its outer shell than one that is filled with worms which are hidden and feed off the inside of the produce. And yet both are equally undesirable. Let us not be fooled into excusing certain types of behaviours while picking on the more obvious easy targets. Our minds must now become obsessed with the “mind of Christ” and we must make every possible effort to understand what that looks like. Forget everything you thought you once knew, because some of what you may believe to be kosher may in fact be the very thing which hinders you from going onto maturity. It is God who hinders or accelerates a Christians progression; “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.” (Hebrews 6:1-3)

As a Christian, there is a process we must get to grips with no differently to a newborn baby familiarising themselves with their new surroundings, from the womb into the world and for the Christian; from the Oldman’s reckonings to the mind of Christ. If we resist this transformation we will sadly not be allowed to go onto maturity. Who in their right mind would want to be an adult with an infant’s understanding, how long would that individual last amongst the wolves of this world? Now before I am misunderstood; all of salvation is subject to the grace of God, however we must pay careful attention to the Spirit’s direction. The apostle Paul gives us this instruction and it would be extremely beneficial to examine ourselves in light of the tutoring; “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” We must test ourselves and our conduct compared to the mind of Christ. We are new creatures in Christ, if in fact we have His Spirit in us, if not we kid ourselves and try to kid those around us that we belong to Him, when in fact we have a form of religion but it carries no power in our deliberations. We will eventually be found wanting, driven by our old characters where sin dominates our lives. There is nothing hidden from God, therefore we must examine ourselves; we must be honest with ourselves so that the necessary steps may be realised and then appropriate action through repentance in the finished work of Calvary can be taken. This is a very important facet of what it means to put on the mind of Christ…

Signing off

Tyrone