Pass or Fail

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

PASS OR FAIL

2 Cor 13:5-10

5 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? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. 10 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.

NIV

Maybe we should have broken this whole statement up into little bits because there is so much here, but perhaps we can revisit it a few times. The first question we should ask is how do we test ourselves? The point is we should examine ourselves to see if we are in fact in the faith. Is it possible some of us are just walking around looking like we are in the faith but in all reality we are not? How else would we fail the test? It appears the test is whether are not we realize that Christ Jesus is in us. So then could we say that if we simply attend church, even become a member of a church, even become an active member that is it possible we could fail the test? If we live one way, but talk another way, could we fail the test? That is to say if we talk like a believer, speaking Christianize, but conduct the affairs of our life mostly like all the unbelievers do, than we might well have to say we have failed the test. But if when we examine ourselves and find that Jesus Christ is in fact within us, of course that is the Spirit who is in us, then we pass the test. Jesus in the physical in of course at the right hand of the Father, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, and he is coming back for us, so when we examine ourselves we sense the Spirit within, and he comes when we repent of our sin, seek forgiveness and turn our life over to Christ, making him our Lord and Savior. Our life should then reflect that faith in Christ Jesus. We should no longer trust in the flesh that is we should no longer look to our own efforts as a source for our life, but we should look to Jesus. He said that he would provide all our needs according to his riches in glory. He said that if we ask the Father anything in his name he will give it to us. What don’t we get about that? Why do we still try to store up so much for ourselves? Are we in the faith, or are we just pretending to be in the faith? Do we actually trust Jesus Christ, even if for nothing else, but for salvation? We do really need a thorough examination of what we believe. It would appear that others will clearly see whether we pass or fail the test, by the way we live. This is not a case of getting a good grade, but simply pass or fail.