Self-Examination | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 24, 1884

Self-Examination.

THERE is probably not a more fitting injunction in the New Testament for the present time than is found in 2 Cor. 13:5: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.” It is not a very satisfactory undertaking, but it may prove a profitable one. What is the affections set upon? What do the thoughts run upon? What is the real inward ambition? If you were given a choice of something to ask, and be sure of getting immediately, what would it be? How do you feel toward the brethren—all of them? Is the “conversation in Heaven”? Does the eye lust after the gaudy things of earth, and the heart crave the satisfaction of the flesh? What is the influence of the daily actions? Is the law of the Lord a delight? What kind of company is most enjoyed? Are the motives selfish or charitable? Is the pursuit after temporal or eternal things?

“Do I love the Lord or no, Am I his, or am I not?”

Or am I a “reprobate”? These are hard questions; but an immediate solution may save shame and confusion in the future.