The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” Or again in 1 Corinthians 11:28, “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.” In both cases, Paul is making the case that we ought to be able to know for ourselves our standing with our God. We are encouraged to look critically at the life we live and choices we make to see if that aligns with the teachings of the New Testament. He tells us to compare our lives to the life of Christ to know if we are living by faith or living in sin.
But, this is not the only way we examined. Yes, how we live and what we do is very important. But, that life and those choices should be the result of a changed heart. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17 ("Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"), this transformed life should be the result of a resurrected inner self.
When we think about our spiritual health, it might be easy to focus on what we do: I pray throughout the day, multiple times even. I read the scriptures and study them diligently. I attend the worship services whenever they are available. I give honor to mother and father. I uphold the commandments.
Or maybe it’s what we don’t do: I don’t speed. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t gamble. I don’t use bad words. I don’t _______.
However, our examination cannot begin and end with our behavior. We must get to the “why” of who we are. We must look at why we have become who we have become. We must think carefully and thoroughly about our motivations because, to use a modern turn of phrase: “it’s the thought that counts.”
Throughout the New Testament we see that many people wanted to work their way into salvation. They believed they could earn it by themselves rather than accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Paul works to correct this way of thinking in Romans 3:20 when he says “By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight...” or again Galatians 2:16 when he says, “...a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ...”.
The churches in Galatia in particular struggled with this issue. To some, it became another Gospel. That is, it became another means of salvation. This other Gospel was one that said you were not saved by Jesus, but saved by the works you did. Some Christians even believed in this lie.
So Paul warned them and called them back to the truth that salvation only comes by the grace found in Christ Jesus when he says, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Gal. 5:4).
Notice this key phrase, “trying to be justified” – it wasn’t that they wanted to be justified, but it was the means by which they thought they would be justified.
When we are trying to save ourselves of ourselves by ourselves we find ourselves lost.
But, when we find Jesus and we know Him and we seek Him and we have a love for Him that changes us from the inside out, our lives will look like His and His blood will cleanse us from all our sin. (Acts 22:16).
