Daily Devotional for Sunday, July 27

The Profit of Personal Examination

“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged,” 1 Corinthians 11:31.

 You will either control yourself or you will be controlled by others. I say this all the time to children at school and at church. We can either have the ability to regulate our own actions, emotions and thoughts, or somebody else will step up to do it for us. It might be a teacher, an angry person upset at our actions, a bill collector or a police officer, but control will come. But to control ourselves, we must first be able to judge that we are in need of control. Self-control is preceded by self-perception.

Paul spoke at length in 1 Corinthians 11 about the Lord’s Supper. He noted that many had failed to judge themselves and their right partaking of the Lord’s Supper, causing illness and even death to the worst offenders. So he told them that they should judge themselves. This means that each individual should rightly judge themselves against the standards God has given, with the understanding that changes will be made when they are not living by those standards. When they do that, they will not have to be judged by others. The implication in this passage is that it will also protect them from the illness and death mentioned in the previous verse.

This truth stretches to almost all of life. An honest self-assessment with an honest judgment of yourself is a great skill to have, and from this passage, it is also a great spiritual tool to have in following Jesus. The ability to do this affects your work, your relationships, your home life and your walk with Jesus in all of these areas.

REFLECTION

Stop, look, examine and judge yourself according to Scripture.

Jason Rutherford