On this issue of examining ourselves, we certainly do need to keep tabs on our life, but we also must guard against being overly introspective. It is not our own lives that we mainly need to keep our eyes on, but on Christ. Trent Casto goes on to offer these helpful remarks: While there is great value in examining our public and private lives, there is also some danger if we do not also look to Christ. The danger is that in pure introspection we get lost in a dark maze of the heart, which leads only to despair. To guard against this danger, the Scottish preacher Thomas Chalmers gave some of the best guidance on self-examination. He said that the best way to find something in a dark room, as in the heart, is not to go on probing and searching around in the dark, but instead they throw open the window shades and let light in. How can we do that? By looking in faith to Jesus. 

Most folks are not thrilled when it comes to test time. If they have done no preparation, then they will likely be terrified. But even if they have studied hard and prepared as well as they can, it still can be a nerve-wracking experience. And it need not just be a test in school – we can also think of going in for a medical exam, and so on.

This fear or hesitation is more or less true in our spiritual lives as well. Various passages speak to the need for us to test things, including testing ourselves. For example, what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 is something we all must take to heart: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” Verses 5 to 10 provide the immediate context:

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. Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

The fuller context is this entire epistle, where Paul has to deal with the Corinthians and their support of false apostles or “super apostles” and so on. They keep demanding that Paul proves himself as a real apostle. His rivals were urging the Corinthians to question his authority and legitimacy. So here Paul turns the tables on them. He says they need to examine their own lives.

And he is hoping that they will pass the test. Even though he has had to rebuke and chastise the Corinthians more than once, his aim is to see them become all that they should be in Christ. Or as verse 9 says, “our prayer is that you may be fully restored.”

Having regular medical check-ups is good for our physical bodies. And having regular spiritual exams is also necessary for our journey with Christ. Without testing and searching ourselves – by the help of the Spirit and in accordance with the guidance of Scripture – we all can go astray.

If we are not keeping tabs on our spiritual condition, we can drift away, which Scripture warns about.

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