Examine Yourselves - 2 Corinthians 13:5-6

13:5-6 - Paul’s warning that accountability will be coming with his next visit can seem daunting but he also recommends a way to not be subject to that kind of discipline. In fact, instead of him being the judge of their spirituality, he wants them to do it themselves. Paul says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” I’m a fan of the saying, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” because an unexamined life is a reactionary life and that’s not only exhausting, but likely to end up with you being in a situation that you don’t want to be in. In order to get out of life what you want, you have to know first where you are and make a plan to move forward. I look at my life constantly, maybe a little too much, but self-examination gives me a lot to think about and something to do. I think that this is the reason I ask myself so often, “do you believe in God?” and all the other questions that I constantly think about. I’m trying to figure out if I really believe it, trying to understand the gospel in terms of my own beliefs and experiences. I also think that avoiding deep, consistent assessments in to who you are and what you believe is a fast track into complacency. I like to look at it like food. We have to eat regularly in order to survive, and while it’s possible to hang on to life while eating very little, a person certainly doesn’t thrive living hand to mouth. Spiritually, it is similar. We could go long periods of time without engaging our spirit, but do we thrive? Not in the ways that matter. How do we thrive spiritually? I think first we have to look at how we die spiritually. By definition, spiritual death is when we are separated from God, and how do we separate ourselves from God? Through sin. And sin comes more easily when we are not actively working to stay close to the Spirit. Spirituality, just like physicality, takes constant attention, care, and management. Paul’s suggestion to “prove your own selves,” might seem like a challenge to take on temptation and see how far you could resist, like when Ghandi would sleep naked with young teenage girls to prove to himself that he could withstand the temptation. I would suggest that this is not what Paul is advocating because that is just a scenario of playing with fire. We shouldn’t seek out temptation, especially with the intent on seeing if we can “resist” it. But I suggest that there are enough instances surrounding us constantly that we don’t need to seek anything out. For instance, whenever I interact with someone, I ask myself if I was as kind as I should have been, if I was rude or abrupt with them. Whenever I get irritated with someone or something, I have to check myself, and that to me is the type of self-evaluation that is must helpful for me. The IM reminds us that Jesus asked a question of similar meaning when he asked, “what think ye of Christ?” What do we think of him? Do we believe that he came to earth and lived 2,000 years ago? I find that starting at the bottom is the most helpful because we can build on that to find exactly where we need help. If we believe that he did in fact live on earth 2,000 years ago, then we can decide if we believe him to be the Son of God, then if we believe that he can save us, etc. Then Paul asks if we can recognize “that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” The Wikipedia definition of “reprobation” is “a doctrine of the Bible… When a sinner is so hardened as to feel no remorse or misgiving of conscience.” So, it seems like Paul is telling us to look within ourselves and see if we can find the Savior in our hearts. We can find him within ourselves if we look and then make a concerted effort to improve on our shortcomings. It’s like Paul just talked about, how Jesus told him that His grace is sufficient, likewise, His grace is sufficient for OUR shortcomings. He will help us recognize where we can improve, how we can improve, then help us make the changes over time so that they become second nature to us. All this is possible unless we harden our hearts against the Spirit, and refuse to accept divine intervention in our behalf. And Paul says that we can evaluate him and his companions based on the same criteria that we use for ourselves. Do they teach the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do they try to serve others the way Jesus did? Do they bring feelings of strength and positivity to their teachings? Do they take advantage of others? Do they try to hoard power over others? These are the types of questions we can ask ourselves for our own improvement, and the types of questions that we can ask about others to determine if they are of God or if they are “reprobates”.