Christians, in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul tells us that we should examine
ourselves.
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!
Should we "judge" one another? Treating each other differently and as a
lower class citizen until they "prove" themselves to us? Certainly, we
can never know who will be in the kingdom of heaven, only God knows
this. However it is a loving act to care so much about someone that you
have a difficult conversation with them and help them see things that
they might not otherwise see. Isn't it better for them to fail this
test here while we are under grace than to stand before God and be told
that they failed?
Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23
13"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy
that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who
find it are few.
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in
your name?' 23And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
OK, so this leads to the ultimate question, how do you know? With a lot
of Biblical concepts there isn't a direct list or checkbox that outlines
this perfectly for you to check against. Rather the information must be
gathered from a variety of places. A few of the ways it will be seen in
your life are:
- You are born again (see John 3)
- You love the Word of God, the Bible.
o Imagine if you were building a relationship that would lead to
marriage and your future bride wrote you 66 letters to tell you all
about them and their personality. Their character, likes, dislikes and
basically a total picture of who they are. On the wedding day you show
up and your bride asks you "did you read all my letters?" How will he
feel when you say "no, I didn't have time".
The Bible is God's love letter to you, read it, live it, walk it out.
- You must not feel that you are a "good person"
o In many places the scriptures tell us that there is none good,
no not one. Jesus Himself told us that there is none good but the
Father. (Luke 18:19). You must have a solid understanding that you are
undeserving of the grace poured out on your behalf. If you don't
understand this, have you really repented of your sin?
o Think of it as again a marriage, if you have an adulterous
relationship and then come back to your wife saying that you're a "good
person" and that you will just try to do better, how will she feel?
Will she forgive you? Likely not unless you express your sorrow and
anguish of having betrayed her. This is the same sorrow you must feel
with God. The good news is that when you finally express this and feel
it, God will fill you up with Himself. First you must empty yourself of
your old self-righteous ways.
- You must live for Christ in all you do
o If we gathered 10 of your closest friends together and asked
them "what is the most important thing in your life?" would they say
Jesus? Or would they have a different answer? Jesus tells us that
anyone who denies Him here on earth will be denied in the kingdom.
Don't be a closet Christian, to do this denies Christ.
It is a form of negligence to allow someone to come to harm when you
could do something about it. What will God say to you if you stand
before Him and he shows you all the people you could have saved by
having the courage to speak into their lives and instead they walked a
path to destruction?
Have the courage, speak the truth. Learn the tactics to doing this with
humility.
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