At the end of every year companies engage in taking stock, and make an inventory of what they have gained or lost. This work is very important for the advancement of their business. They have to see where they made a profit and where they have lost. Then with a new plan corrections are made and changes implemented to promote the enterprise.

So it is also in our own spiritual life. The apostle Paul tells us: “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?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Unless we find ourselves firmly established in the faith, and unless Jesus Christ dwells in us by faith, we are on the losing side. Paul says that we are reprobates, unless Jesus dwells in us. The word “reprobate” can mean condemned or disapproved. None of us are willing to be disapproved or condemned. That is why we should make a thorough examination of our own life. We cannot do it with our own will and power, because our heart may deceive us. Therefore, we should utter the prayer of David: “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” (Psalm 139:23, 24).

“We must examine for ourselves and learn the reasons of our faith by comparing scripture with scripture. Take the Bible, and on your knees plead with God to enlighten your mind.”1

“Compare your character with the mirror of God’s word, see if that law condemns you. If so, wash your robe of character in the blood of the Lamb. Whether we do or do not try ourselves by God’s law, we may be sure that He will try us. He will bring us through the furnace. Trials do not come upon us to inform God of what we are, for His eye reads the intents and purposes of the heart; but it is for our own enlightenment, that we may learn our own defects, and remedy them before it is too late. We cannot tell what we are, whether our graces are true or false, until brought to the test.”2

Our life is molded by our thoughts and actions. This is why it is so important to have continuous self-examination, to see if our characters are approved of God. This is a daily responsibility. Unless our characters come up to the required measure of God, we are reprobates. Our characters will determine our destiny.

“Inquire into the nature of your thoughts, purposes, tempers, words and deeds. Compare them with the character revealed in the life of Christ. See whether you have His spirit, whether the visible fruits of righteousness testify that you are in the faith.”3

“If we compare ourselves with the great moral standard, we shall understand what are our defects of character. But whatever our defects and shortcomings, we should not be discouraged. We must see our sins and put them away; for Christ cannot abide in a divided heart.”4

If we would criticize our own selves instead of pointing our fingers at others, we would not be judged. This is what the apostle says: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).

“God desires us to criticize ourselves. ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.’ Make the examination of self thorough and critical. Those who refuse to see themselves in the mirror of God’s Word cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. The gates of paradise will close against those who do not work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.”5

“ ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.’ Some conscientious souls, on reading this, immediately begin to criticize their every feeling and emotion. But this is not correct self-examination. It is not the petty feelings and emotions that are to be examined. The life, the character, is to be measured by the only standard of character, God’s holy law. The fruit testifies to the character of the tree. Our works, not our feelings, bear witness of us.

“The feelings, whether encouraging or discouraging, should not be made the test of the spiritual condition. By God’s Word we are to determine our true standing before Him. Many are bewildered on this point. When they are happy and joyous, they think that they are accepted of God. When a change comes, and they feel depressed, they think that God has forsaken them.”6

“Closely criticize the temper, the disposition, the thoughts, words, inclinations, purposes, and deeds. How can we ask intelligently for the things we need unless we prove by the Scriptures the condition of our spiritual health?”7