Carefully Examining Our Lives

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

-II Corinthians 13:5

The Bible teaches that we need to very often take stock of our lives; that is, examine ourselves carefully, and if we find anything there that is not of God, then we are to remove it from us. This kind of self-examination aides us and keeps us in the faith, and from straying away from God. We are called by God to be ever moving forward towards what the Lord has called us to do; we are not to stop growing, learning, and going forward with Christ, but rather we are called to grow in all aspects of the faith in ever increasing measure. Is it possible that someone could be out of the faith and not realize it? I will say that it is possible for someone to have drifted way out of God’s will and not realize it. The reason being, that it happened so slowly that the person was hardly aware of it. Sin and ungodliness crept into the person’s life slowly, subtly, and the person didn’t realize it until he or she was far gone. By stopping and taking stock of our lives we can seek with God’s help to determine where we are in our walk with God. It behooves us to take a hard look at such areas of our lives as attitude, outlook, and personal conduct. Is my attitude towards others and life in general all that it should be? Is my attitude one which brings honor and glory to God? If not, what must I do to correct my attitude? Negative, hateful, and judgmental attitudes will always hinder our forward progress in the faith, but a positive attitude does the opposite.

Is my overall outlook on life one which enriches my faith or detracts from it? Am I surviving life or am I living life to its fullest?

Are our lives being lived in a manner that bring honor to God, or is He being dishonored in any way? Is there some secret sin which is hindering our walk with the Lord? If so, it must be confessed and abandoned.

The trials of life, along with the challenges and temptations we face, all put our faith daily to the test. Without this frequent self-examination, we may find ourselves failing those tests. When the trials come, will we stand firm, or will we fall apart? Through a daily walk with Christ we can stand firm in our faith even during those times when we might otherwise have fallen apart. God is faithful, and He will empower us and give us the victory.