Why You Should Examine Yourself

Day 230: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We are prone, as humans, to do things our own way. We rush here and there to satisfy the various desires and whims that come upon us. We claim that these feelings and urges are beyond our control. Slowing down doesn’t seem like much of an option for people as driven as we are.

Yet here we see that Paul encourages the Christians in Corinth to slow down, to show some self-restraint, when it came to how they were weekly remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

The preventative he offers is found in the word: Examine. It is the Greek word dokimazō. It can also mean to test or to try to determine the genuineness of something.

How much more of a focused time would we have while eating the bread and drinking the cup if we took this time to test ourselves? This inventory is also a good idea to take into every day we face.

This may also remind us of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

I love the following quote to close our time together today. May communion find an echo in our lives today and till our final day on earth.

"The eating and drinking at the Supper is not ritualistic and it must find an echo in the lives of believers. They need to consider whether their lives are in accord with the self-giving love of Jesus (cf. Lam. 3:40; 2 Cor. 13:5)."
- Schreiner, T. R. (2018). 1 Corinthians (E. J. Schnabel, Ed.; Vol. 7, p. 246)