Not Us

Leaving church one Sunday morning, a husband and wife said to the pastor, "That was a great sermon, one of your very best. I only wish that our neighbors had been here with us. Everything you said applied specifically to them. They needed to hear it, not us!”

Far too many individuals come to church with a shield or sieve, not a wagon or wheelbarrow. Instead of taking the message with them and applying it to their lives, they deflect anything that applies to them or allow only little bits and pieces of carefully sifted material to enter their minds or hearts.

One of the important parts of a healthy lifestyle is an annual physical examination by a physician. It is designed as an “early warning system” to detect any life-threatening disease. Many times illnesses can be stopped immediately and effectively before it becomes deadly.

That is why we need a Scriptural check-up, using God’s Word as the “standard” of our Spiritual health. Paul wrote, "Examine yourselves...test yourselves" – with His word as the measure - to see if you are truly living a God-honoring, Spirit-filled, Christian life. A Scriptural checkup done daily will help us to recognize “which direction we are growing.” There must be an awareness of Christ's presence and power in our lives by the way we are living and how we are honoring God. If we are not getting closer to God every day, we are moving farther away from Him. It’s one way or the other – either/or. It cannot be both!

Prayer: Help us, Father, to be honest with ourselves about the “condition” of our salvation and our relationship with You. May we be true Christians, not imposters. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today: 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.