The Importance of Self-Examination: Honest Evaluation as a Requirement for Forward Movement

A true saint should be able to look in the mirror and say, "I am not pleasing God in this area." That kind of honesty is not weakness. It is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines a minister can practice. And it is an absolute requirement for forward movement in the Kingdom.

2 Corinthians 13:5 gives the direct command: "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?" This is not a suggestion for spiritually troubled believers. This is a standing instruction for every person who names the name of Christ. Examine. Prove. Know.

James 1:22-25 uses the image of a mirror: "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." The Word of God is the mirror. When you look into it honestly, it shows you exactly what you are. The question is whether you will remember what you saw, or walk away and forget.

Nobody else has to know what you are thinking or doing. You know. You know whether your heart is right toward another person. You know whether your thoughts are pure. You know whether God is pleased with you. 1 John 3:20-21 confirms it: "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."

Proverbs 20:27 adds the spiritual dimension: "The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." God has placed within you a witness. Your own spirit, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, knows the truth about your condition. And Hebrews 4:12-13 confirms that nothing is hidden: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit... Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

That kind of honesty produces the fear of the Lord. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). There is no repentance without the fear of the Lord. However, many times, the fear of the Lord is replaced with the fear of loss, the loss of status, position, or image. The deception here is that the fight to retain those things has caused the loss of the forgiveness of God.

Self-examination also requires looking honestly at your ministry output. Can you truly say that what you teach and demonstrate will bring the saints to walking in perfection? If the Word you were taught is true, then at some point, if you are not walking in it, you have denied that Word. And if that is so, then you will never be able to demonstrate what you teach or preach. You can only reproduce what you are.

The measuring questions for any minister are these: Are you truly holy? Are you diligent in studying the Word? Do you have a good testimony among those who know you? Have you taken the initiative to equip yourself with the knowledge and understanding of what is required of you? A minister must focus on the purpose for which he was called. If you neglect your responsibilities, you are merely holding a title.

Self-examination is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing spiritual practice. It is the discipline of regularly bringing yourself before the mirror of God's Word and the illumination of His Spirit, and being willing to see what is actually there, not what you hope is there, not what you want others to see, but what is actually there. That honesty is the doorway to every next step in God.