Tag Archives: examine yourself

April 8, 2025 · 5:41 AM

Taking Assessment

I recently retook an assessment that I had taken several years ago. I taught a class on it for a few years, so I know why the assessment is asking the questions it asked. As I took it, I had a thought. I could give answers that made myself look really good, or I could answer truthfully. I wanted to get an accurate assessment of myself more than I wanted to look good for someone else. I answered truthfully and several of my flaws were revealed with red marks on the results. I sat on a coaching call answering questions explaining what was going on inside me when faced with certain situations. I figured the only way to improve is to have an accurate assessment.

Many people in the Bible were assessed by God. Saul’s heart was exposed when he was confronted by Samuel regarding his disobedience. He made excuses as to why he didn’t obey, as he tried to make himself look better. When David was confronted on his disobedience and sin, he admitted it and sought forgiveness. There are places like Psalm 139:23 where he says, “Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts” (GNT). He understood the need for personal, spiritual and motivational assessment. If you’re going to grow or get better, you must be willing to expose those areas.

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Put yourselves to the test and judge yourselves, to find out whether you are living in faith.” How strong is your faith and belief? Only when it is tested can you truly know. It’s easy to say what you believe when you’re not being tested. However, being faced with a hard time, or a hard truth, will reveal what’s inside. It’s important to regularly assess where you are in your faith and growth as a Christian. Are you taking steps to be more Christlike? Are your roots growing down deep or are they shallow? The only way to know is to ask God to examine you and put you to the test. Don’t be afraid to ask God to show you areas of growth that are needed. Get an honest assessment, see it as an opportunity to build Christian character and growth, then make changes as necessary.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Self Examination

I don’t remember many people who liked taking exams in school. Why don’t we like them? I believe it’s because it is a tool that shows where you are a academically and how much you’ve learned. Imagine if churches gave out tests to determine where you are spiritually seeing where your relationship with God really is. The good news is that they don’t do that. However, the Bible does mention several times that we should examine ourselves to do just that. It’s easy to quickly say that everything is fine. It’s much more difficult to truly scrutinize where you really are. When we’re willing to do that, we’re willing to grow and move closer to God.

Here are some Bible verses that ask you to examine yourself:

1. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

II Corinthians 13:5 NKJV

2. But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work [examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior], and then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable without comparing himself to another.

Galatians 6:4 AMP

3. Examine your motives to make sure you’re not showing off when you do your good deeds, only to be admired by others; otherwise, you will lose the reward of your heavenly Father.

Matthew 6:1 TPT

4. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

1 Corinthians 11:31 NLT

5. Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord; Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.

Lamentations 3:40-41 NKJV

Here’s an exam I use to give me a snapshot of where I am in the different areas of my spiritual growth. Click here.

Photo by Михаил Секацкий on Unsplash

The Check Engine Light

The check engine light has been on in my car for a while. Like most people, I’ve ignored it. The car has run well and has not given me any issues, so I’ve continued to drive it. This month, it’s time to get the annual inspection done and you can’t get it inspected with the check engine light on. I’ve spent a lot of time this weekend trying to figure out what the problem is. I’ve been able to clear all the problems except one. I’m continuing to try to solve that one so my car will be in perfect working order.

I started thinking how many of us have our spiritual check engine light on. We ignore warnings that there is something not right in our lives. We see the light, but we keep going because we either think we’re fine or that it’ll be too costly to fix. I know because I’ve done it. The Holy Spirit would let me know that there was an issue, but I’d counter Him by saying, “It’s all right. This is a one time thing. I’m not going to make a habit of this.”

After we continue to ignore His warnings, it becomes like that light in my car, we hardly even notice anymore. We continue on in our lives, knowing what is right and continuing to do something else. What we said was a “one time thing” becomes a root for something even bigger. Sin rarely starts off big. It starts as a small step and leads to another small step. We justify each step until something happens and we realize we’re a long way away from where we should be.

We should each perform inspections like we do for our cars. In I Corinthians 11:28, Paul tells us to examine (inspect) ourselves before we take communion. For some churches, that’s every week. For others, once a month. However long it is between for you, that’s a perfect time to see if your spiritual check engine light is on. It’s also the time you need to figure out why it’s on and to do what’s necessary to get it turned off. The good news is that the price has been paid, we just need to do our part to replace the things in our lives that are causing it to be on.

What I’ve found is that the longer I continue to go without examining or inspecting myself, the more I have to repair in my life. Typically, it’s relationships that I have to repair, and my relationship with God is the first one that needs to be repaired. After that, I go to others whom I’ve ignored or offended and seek forgiveness. It’s not easy and it requires time and effort. I have to put things in place that keep me from going back and doing the things that caused my spiritual check engine light to come on in the first place.

What about you? Is there something in your life that you’ve ignored that God has given you a warning over? Have you continued on in your life so much that you hardly even notice anymore? How long has it been since you’ve done an inspection of your life? Let me encourage you to do it today. Don’t go another day without fixing the issues in your life that are causing God to warn you that something is wrong. It starts with repentance and ends with a life running full throttle for God.

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Tagged as accountability, bible, check engine light, Christian life, daily devotional, Devotion, examine yourself, faith, God, inspection, Jesus, religious, repair, repentance, spiritual life