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 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV)
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:27
This is a very sobering Scripture. We are asked to examine and test ourselves as to whether we are in the faith. This means that it is possible for us to believe that we are in the faith when in reality, we are not. It is also possible for us to be disqualified.
We must not take God and Christianity for granted. Grace is not a license for uncontrolled and undisciplined life. Grace must be respected so we must not say, “because God is merciful and forgiving, let me run wild and live anyhow I like.” That is a great deception – judgement begins in the house of God and those who claim to be Christians but love sin are insulting the grace and mercy of God and are actually sacrificing Christ all over again. Anytime you reject the word of God and godliness you are sacrificing and insulting Christ.
How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:29
30For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”d and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”e 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:30-31
and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Hebrews 6:6
My righteous people, however, will believe and live; but if any of them turns back, I will not be pleased with them.” Hebrews 10:38
We must not take God for granted but we must constantly honor Him and respect Him by honoring His word. We must examine ourselves always to determine if we are still in the faith or have turned away or fallen away. It is possible to turn back into the world or turn away from God and God warns that He will not be pleased with that.
Christianity is a narrow way with thorns and thistles and requires great sacrifice and discipline while the world seems alluring and constantly beckons humans to partake of its deceptive pleasures. Christians can actually turn back and embrace the world and live double lives without knowing that they have wondered far away from God and the faith. If we constantly measure and examine ourselves with the word of God and it’s standard, we will know if we are still in the faith.
May God give us the grace to persevere till the end. May we constantly examine and test ourselves to determine if we are in the faith and living according to the faith.
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