ON THE VANGUARD

SELF EXAM
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.”
II Corinthians 13:5-6

I do not consider myself to be an old man, but I am getting closer to age forty. With this fact in mind, and the fact that I will be getting married again at some point, I have taken it upon myself to be a little more cautious about my health. Let’s face it, I am not the young whipper-snapper that I used to be. I have had to focus more on my exercise habits, which means I have had to monitor my food intake as well. But I have also had to begin giving myself self exams. I read just this morning that approximately 8300 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year. While it is stated that 95% of these men will survive, it is better to begin being aware of this fact now and looking for the signs. So then, a self exam can be used to notice any lumps or changes in size that could be an early sign of this issue.
While we are all probably more so aware of the physical exams we need to put our bodies through, be it checking for testicular or breast cancer, giving ourselves an oral exam and checking for gum disease, or even just checking our heart rate at periods of rest and activity, there is one additional self exam we should make time for. This exam is the exam of faith. In II Corinthians 13:5-6, Paul hints rather boldly that we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith, testing ourselves even in this discovery. This examining is the Greek word PEIRAZO, meaning to make trial of, to ascertain the quality of, or to test. Paul is encouraging us to ascertain the quality of our faith for ourselves.
But then we must also understand the term faith here if we plan to do a good self exam. After all, we need to know just what we are checking for. In the Greek this is the word PISTIS, translated as the conviction of the truth of anything. I once heard a very practical illustration concerning faith that I think would help put this in the proper light for us. When we go to sit in a chair, we have faith that it will hold us up. Why is that? Because over time we have sat and been supported. We have sat in plastic chairs, wooden chairs, steel chairs, comfy chairs, and lumpy chairs, but in probably all cases, we have been supported. This repeated support has provided for us the conviction needed that truth shows the chair will support us. And so it should be with Christ Jesus. Our faith in Him should be based on the fact that He has never left us, never let us fail, and never turned His back on us. We may have been the ones to turn on Him, but He has never turned on us.
So then, Paul’s words begin to make a little more sense. We are to ascertain the quality of our conviction of truth for ourselves. Christ Jesus is in us; He has given us the ability to pass this exam. Unless… As we see in the end of verse 5, we can fail this exam if He is not in us. If He is not in us, we become named an ADOKIMOS, one who is not standing, not approved, or unfit. Paul trusts, ELPIZO, hopes or has confidence, that we are not these type people who are qualified as ‘adokimos’. And that is exactly where we find ourselves. We need to solidify the results of the self exam. We need to determine once and for all if we have been diagnosed as ‘adomimos’ or not. We cannot answer this question until first we take the exam Paul suggests and see just where our convictions lie. We may be relieved and find no lumps spiritually. But we may also be surprised and find concern, or that we are not as healthy as we assumed. Despite the results, we will never know until we examine ourselves. And despite the fact that we may be unhealthy, He is the cure and a faith in His is the medicine. Isn’t it time to know?