Examine Your Life

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!
–2 Corinthians 13:5

Doctors tell us all the time we need to be examining ourselves physically, checking for signs of something wrong. It is the same way with our spiritual lives. The parable of the wheat and the tares teaches us that phony Christians often resemble real Christians–they can even fool themselves! That is why every Christian should carefully examine his life. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!”

How do you do that? Let me just suggest to you three questions you ought to use in a spiritual self-examination.

Number one: Have you confessed your sins to God and trusted in Jesus to be your Savior?

Number two: Since that time, has there been any spiritual fruit in your life? Have you ever led anybody to faith in Christ? Do you enjoy reading the Bible, or do you find it to be a chore? Do you love being with God’s people, or do you try to find every excuse not to go to church? Do you readily invest your funds in God’s work, or is it hard to pry a nickel from your clinched fist? Is your life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23?

Here is another way to ask that question: Outside of what you do on Sundays, is there any discernable difference between your life and the life of the most moral non-Christian you know? The Bible says where there is no fruit, there is no genuine spiritual life.

Number three: What consumes your thoughts? When you are alone, what do you find yourself thinking about? Are your thoughts centered around this world or the next one?

Ask yourself these questions, and be honest, because your eternal destiny is at stake. To me, the most terrifying words in all the New Testament came from the lips of Jesus Himself in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” The test of your faith is fruitfulness.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “How To Spot A Phony” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org