Day 5: E is for Examine

“But let a man examine himself …” I Corinthians 11:28

E is for examine. Examine is to inspect in detail; to investigate thoroughly; to test for purity and accuracy. Some may get examine confused with examination because they look and sound so similar … and they are actually related. Examine is an action verb. An examination is a noun meaning the actual act of examining something.

Our verse today talks about a man examining himself. Why would a man need to examine himself? Well, remember that the context of this verse is the Lord’s Supper. When we come before the Lord’s Supper, we are to examine ourselves … in short, to see if we have any unconfessed sins in our lives.

Why do we need to confess sin in our lives? Why can we not just leave it there? Well, think about your house. If you leave dirty dishes in your sink today and then add more tomorrow and more the next day, what happens? Pretty soon you are over-run by dirty dishes and you have nothing clean left in the cupboards. Am I correct? Not only that, but when you do finally decide to do dishes, it is going to be so much harder and take so much longer.

I do not know about you, but I have come to an age and stage in my life where I like a clean kitchen. Do not come in my kitchen and not wash the glass or dish that you used and definitely do not leave it for later without at least rinsing it out. I LOVE how I feel when my kitchen is clean! Because I love that feeling, I do all in my power to make sure that it stays that way.

It is interesting to watch pre-teens as they move into the teen years. Do you remember those pre-teen years? The years where you did not really care about your appearance nor how clean you were or how clean your clothes were. But,   seemingly, one day you woke up and all that changed, did it not? What happened? You matured to the point where you keenly felt that fabulous clean feeling … and you then did all in your power to make sure that you stayed that way!

In our Christian lives, we can leave the filth and dirt of sin untouched and pretty soon we are so coated that we have not only lost our effectiveness, but we have lost our sensitivity as well. But, one day, when we came before a righteous and holy God, something changed, did it not? You learned what it felt like to be clean. He is the one who can help you to be clean again! Let Him search your heart! Let Him try you! Let Him show you where you need to be clean!

Psalm 139:23-24 “Search ME, O God, and know MY heart: try ME, and know MY thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in ME, and lead ME in the way everlasting.”

Lesson Objective: To understand what it means to examine yourself. Have you met a righteous and holy God? Have you been cleansed by His precious blood, but now you find yourself not caring anymore about the sin in your life? Today is a perfect day to examine and search out those sins. You can be clean again!

Did you pass or did you fail?