Self Examination

"That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way."  
I Corinthians 11:28-31 

I'm not a big fan of self examination. As a matter of fact, there are at least a million other activities I'd rather participate in than taking a good, long, honest look at myself. My guess is most of us would prefer to examine other people's lives. The multitude of gossip magazines and web-sites bear this reality out. Introspection is, at times, uncomfortable, discouraging, and frustrating. We would all much rather say, "Nobody's perfect" and leave it at that than face the cold hard truth about our cold hard hearts.

I need to give Paul credit here as he lays out an exceptionally strong case for self examination. Simply put, take time to examine yourself or God will do it for you. In addition, he will bring the appropriate discipline relating to what he finds in his examination. Granted, the context here is taking communion, but this principle of God lovingly disciplining his children is not isolated to this passage.

Here's the good news though. Examining ourselves does not have to be a negative experience. With Jesus coming alongside us in the process, it becomes a time of growth and development, illumination and liberation. These are good outcomes. They are precisely the results that God desires for us to experience. Let's choose today to set aside our long held bias against self examination and embrace it afresh as the doorway to a deeper walk with Jesus and a much better life. 

Grace and Peace,

Tom

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