“Examine me, O LORD, and prove me.... Examine yourselves... prove your own selves”.
(Psa. 26:2: 2 Cor. 13:5)
In our first text David asks God to examine and prove him, in the latter Paul tells us to examine and prove our own selves. Contradiction? Not at all, the one speaks of the Divine side, the second of the human side. The former is asking God to judge his inward life, which no man knows but God. Paul is speaking of us examining outward actions. Throughout the Bible we find this truth, that of the Divine and human, in the life of a child of God. Paul says we don’t know why we do what we do, but our actions are clear.
In today's article I want to discuss only self-examination. There is a healthy and scriptural inventory a believer can and should take of his-or herself, from time to time. But as Martyn Lloyd-Jones brings out, there is a morbid introspection that constantly centers itself around self. This type are always analysing themselves. They worry about everything they do or say: why did I do that? Why did I say that? They are always fretting over the effects of their actions, in spite of the fact they can undo none of those things.
To habitually make a laboratory your stomping grounds, so to speak, is to become morbid in our Christian life. We become a mad scientist. Such people spend all their time dissecting their soul. To regularly be cutting away at the spiritual man will leave one a cripple in time. I like the way my son puts it, “Analysis Paralysis.” Sooner or later you will cut something vital that affects your walk with the Lord. I find the best cure for all this, when tempted, is put down your scalpel, go outside and enjoy people and life!
By An Old Disciple
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