“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
– 2nd Corinthians 13:5
I have sinned a lot in my life. When Paul lists all the evident ways of the sinful works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19–21, I’ve committed them all in various ways. If we were still under the law, I would be guilty and condemned to death before God, rightly so! In fact, I am still guilty according to Romans 3:10, 23. However, Jesus Christ has paid that price and we are no longer condemned to death which means though we are still guilty, we no longer have to feel guilty because we have been forgiven and gifted new life through Christ.
A couple of verses before these in Galatians, Paul says in verse 13b, “only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” To mimic the logic and reasoning that Paul uses; just because we have been forgiven, does not mean we go on sinning. For those who are in Christ no longer sin. When He healed people in the gospel accounts, He told them to “go and sin no more,” which is essentially Him saying, “do not return to the lifestyle from which I saved you from. Instead, follow me.”
Periodically, I believe it is important (and biblical) to take stock of your faith. Take a step back and take inventory of every area of your life to ensure it is in submission to God. It was a bold thing that David asked of the LORD to search his heart and see if there is anything grievous in him that needs to be corrected (Psalm 139:23–24). How often do we do this? More so, how often are we stopping to give thanks and praise to the LORD for sending His Son to die for us and save us from our own pits of despair? Even more so, how many of us give thanks to Him, get emotional, but then return to the same way of life with no real practical application of change?
I’ve been guilty of all three of these.
Recently, I have just finished a book called, “Living by the Book” by Howard and William Hendricks. It is a beautiful book that teaches you the basics of studying the Bible and living a transformative life because of it. At the end of each chapter, they give little exercises to try and one of them is called, “Take A Spiritual Inventory.” It is an inventory that examines our habits and behaviors in light of godly expectations in these 5 areas; 1) Personal Life, 2) Family Life, 3) Church Life, 4) Work Life, and 5) Community Life.
Naturally, we all fall short of the glory of God, and there are always areas in need of improvement (Romans 3:23), therefore it is not enough to simply take notice that we have areas in need of change, but we must also step into that change and walk in a new way after.
*I will be diving deeper into this in another blog on how we move from conviction to action.*
