Sunday, December 30, 2012

Self-Examination


DEVOTION
1 CORINTHIANS
SELF-EXAMINATION
1 Cor 11:27-32
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
NIV


So what is an unworthy manner? It would appear those Corinthians were having a big party extravaganza, with some digging in and chowing down before others could even get to the food while drinking so much of the wine they were actually getting drunk. This could certainly be in an unworthy manner, especially even if they did not say “grace”. But we have taken that to a whole new level of self-examination. We take a hard look deep into our own being to see if there is any reason we should not partake in the bread and wine on the occasional moments we experience “communion” at church. It would appear we cannot conclude that sin would make us unworthy, for which of us is ever truly free of all sin? Perhaps it is the sin we have not repented of which makes us unworthy. But that would mean if we repented we would not have that sin anymore. Maybe it is the sin we have not asked forgiveness for that makes us unworthy. But then of course we merely have to ask forgiveness the moment before we take the bread and wine. So then we would not have to worry about being unworthy. So how deep do we examine ourselves? What do we look for within our inner most being, which would cause us to be unworthy? Surely there is no hardcore sin, like murder, stealing, adultery, and such, but what about bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, envy, jealousy, greed, self-centeredness, selfishness, pride, self-righteousness, and the like? Do we look for those kinds of things in our self-examinations? Have we been lulled to sleep by the world, by Satan so we ignore those areas of our life? And if so that would be a reason there is weakness and sickness among us. Have we become crippled Christians because we refuse to deal with, or ignore those issues in our lives? When we take the bread and wine, do we only think of the glaring, or blatant sins, and see ourselves as fine and free to dig in? It would appear we should make a very careful complete self-judgment looking into every aspect of our lives, being totally honest with ourselves knowing we have sin, and seeking to live a life worthy of the Lord’s Supper. Yes, we will never be completely free of sin, at least in this human condition, but the point is that we examine ourselves and recognize it, judge it, not lying both to ourselves and to God. Once again, are we just supposed to do this those occasional times the pastor decides we should have communion at church? Or should we live in that state of mind every time we sit down to the table at home, or at some restaurant, or at a social gathering with friends, each and every day partaking is some meal? It is a good thing to examine self.

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