Articles
The Need for Self-Examination
In one of the Bible’s most-cited but misused passages, Jesus told us, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:1-5).
Far too many think this is the go-to passage should someone point out their sin, as if no one should ever do so. That is not what Jesus was teaching! If anything, Jesus was saying we should judge, but only with the same judgment we would want used against ourselves. Note that Jesus did not say a man should not point out the mote in his brother’s eye, but that he should first “remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” In other words, before we make judgments on another, take a hard look at self first and make sure our own faults are corrected before we try to correct others.
Self-examination is hard, is it not? At least honest self-examination. Far too many times, we humans take a look in the proverbial mirror and see only the good in self and none of the bad. Our ‘bad’ never looks as bad as the other guy’s ‘bad,’ and we end up looking quite foolish in the eyes of others, who can see our faults much more clearly than we do. Let us save ourselves a bunch of embarrassment and the likelihood of bringing reproach on the name of our Lord, and take the time to do that thorough and honest self-examination. When we do, all will benefit!
It is not something that is merely ‘beneficial,’ however; it is something that is in many cases a necessity. Let us consider a few instances where the Scriptures make such arguments, and let us then examine self to see if we need to do even more self-examination.
` Before Partaking of the Lord’s Supper. When Paul wrote the Corinthian church, he had a host of problems he needed to address, and even in one area where we might not expect: in the remembrance of our Lord’s death in the Lord’s Supper. As it was, Paul said, “when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?” (1 Cor. 11:20-22). His rebuke was to the point, for they had apparently forgotten this was not a time to gorge oneself while others had nothing, but a solemn time to remember the Lord’s death!
His admonition was clear, and they needed to heed him if they wanted to remember that death properly and respectfully. Hear Paul’s words to them that are no less applicable today: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:27-29). As noted earlier, self-examination is not just a good idea; it is a necessity!
In the Faith, or Not? Paul would also later admonish these same brethren, near the end of the second letter, “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 (2 Cor. 13:5). I know many who may be reading this have fallen for the ‘once saved, always saved’ doctrine, but note that Paul is writing to Christians. Can a Christian come to a point where he or she is no longer “in the faith"? Apparently so, for the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write those words of warning to Christians!
The only way we may ‘test ourselves’ [as Paul admonished them] is to check our beliefs and actions against the written word of God as the basis of measurement. We cannot use our own opinions, what ‘most people’ think, or even the creed books of the various religious organizations. When Christians of the first century wanted to know if what someone taught was actually God’s word, “they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They did not take a vote amongst themselves, appeal to a creed book, appeal to ‘what they had always done,’ or surmise and presume to know what God thought about it. They “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” If we are truly interested in pleasing God, we must consult His word to know whether we are truly “in the faith,” or if we have strayed into error.
It may even be that we discover that what we have been taught and what we have believed all our lives was not in agreement with God’s word! If so, what will we do? Will we take a look in the mirror of God’s word and then deny what we see? Will we make excuses for our error and just keep believing it, rather than what God’s word plainly teaches? If so, don’t expect the world to believe anything you say when you tell them you follow Jesus and they see that God’s word teaches otherwise. It is a shame and a reproach on the Lord’s name that so much religious division exists today, and worse still that so many religious leaders want it so. Self-examination here, again, is a necessity!
Are Our Lives Displeasing to God? When Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, it was after Jerusalem had fallen and the nation had been taken away; what once was the City of God was now a city in ruins and far from glorious. As he looked over the city and honestly considered how it came to be in such a sorry state, he wrote, “Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned” (Lam. 3:29-42). In those words we find the admonition to “examine our ways” [he included himself].
It should be noted that when Jeremiah wrote those words, to him it was a foregone conclusion of what they would find, for the very next words admonish the reader or hearer, “…and turn back to the Lord.” Their situation and the condition of Jerusalem and Judea made it plainly obvious to any honest observer that they needed to make a serious and drastic change. They needed to “turn back to the Lord” because they had left the Lord and were following their own ways and the ways of the nations around them.
Self-examination — in all these cases and in many more — is done for the purpose of checking ourselves to see if we are where God wants us to be and if we are who God wants us to be. It is not about self-justification, learning new ways to excuse our beliefs and our behavior, or about learning to just ‘accept’ self for whatever or whomever we happen to be. This is done and must be done if we are genuinely interested in ensuring we are pleasing to God.
Is that your goal? If so, open your Bible [the mirror] and take a look. — Steven Harper
