Focus: Self-examination

Text: 2Cor.13:5

"Examine yourselves…"

Child of God, it's about time you took stock of yourself. Check your motives for the decisions you make and the actions you take. Examine your thoughts, words and deeds. Allow the light of God's word to shine through your heart and ensure that you spot your hidden sins.

Paul says, "Examine yourselves…" In another place, he says, "Let a man examine himself…" (1Cor.11:28). Examine yourself and be sure that you are not edging God out of life with your ego. Ensure that you are letting self get in the way of your God. Someone has asserted that "to most people the greatest persons in the universe are themselves. Their lives are made up of endless variations on the word 'me.'" That's it. That's hitting the nail on its head. He says also, "It's not enough for us to be the center of our own universe. We want to be the center of everyone else's universe as well" - and I might add, including God's. "When others don't bow down before us and devote themselves to promoting our happiness and meeting our needs, we get hurt and start looking for alternate ways to fulfill our egocentric agendas."

Child of God, ensure that you are not the author of your own confusion and dilemma, because the Scripture tells us that "God is not the author of confusion."

A young man once had a pile of books on his bedside table, namely:

*A Bible

*A copy of the Koran

*A Watchtower magazine

*A book on New Age

*A book by Karl Max

*A book on Astronomy

On top of this list was a book entitled, "How to Stop Worrying," and doesn't that amount to creating for oneself a sure world of confusion?

Beyond Paul's call for self-examination, the Psalmist says to God, "Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart" (Ps.26:2). God knows you much more than you know yourself. Look into the mirror of God's word and see yourself as you are, and let the power of God's word change you radically. Let the word reveal the moral dirts that spoil your purity and the spiritual spots that diminish or damage your beauty.

God's word is best critic of one's thought processes and motives. The man who judges himself will not be judged by others. Child of God, examine yourself truly and thoroughly, and let your approval rating come from God.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter