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? – 2nd Corinthians 13
“Test yourselves.” Not a phrase any student likes to hear. Can’t you just see the entire lecture hall turn to each other in confusion when the professor says “okay everyone, open your books and test yourselves.” We are not trained to test ourselves. In fact, we are usually trained to avoid tests at all causes.
Paul speaks on testing ourselves at the very, very end of 2nd Corinthians. Paul is a seasoned evangelist at this point. You can hear his fatigue in the letter. He is writing to the church of Corinth once again to settle major disputes within them. The church was electing and following leaders who Paul called “false apostles.” In other words, these people claimed to have witnessed Christ’s work on earth, but they really had not. This led to false teaching. False teaching led to a heresy. This was a big deal for Paul, but the church at Corinth already knew this was a big deal because Paul had already addressed this in his 1st letter to the Corinthians.
So he tells them to begin testing themselves. The idea behind this is if you test your own faith you will not allow a false apostle to lead you. For us, we do not call people “apostles” per say, but we do allow ourselves to be led by others. Maybe it is a podcast you listen to or news station. Perhaps it is a friend that you respect or a parent. In any case, there are influences in our lives that like or not lead us. So Paul’s proclamation to “test ourselves” rings true today. So how do you do that?
The simplest place to start is Galatians 5:22-23 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” These fruits of the spirit are produced as a Christian devotes themselves to Jesus. Jesus himself said, “By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:16).” We are recognized by the world by the fruits we produce such as love, joy, patience, and kindness. A great test is to ask yourself, do I produce these fruits? If you are a parent, how patient are you with your child? If you interact with strangers often, would those strangers see your kindness? Are you faithful in your devotion to God or sometimes do you choose not to pursue God? These questions will yield different answers at different times in your life. Some of the greatest crusaders of the faith would admit that sometimes their faithfulness wandered. These crusaders would also admit that in these seasons it was testing themselves that ultimately led to a rejuvenation of faith.