Examine Yourselves

By Joe Keim

July 1, 2008

When was the last time you stopped, closed your eyes and looked all the way down deep into your heart and soul to see whether you were truly prepared to die and meet your creator? If you have not done so in awhile, would you consider doing that now? And when you do that, would you consider the following scripture?

2 Cor 13:5 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?

First, Paul says we should EXAMINE ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not. Notice however that he does not say DOUBT yourself, whether ye be in the faith. He says EXAMINE yourselves, look deep within and make double sure that you are in the faith. Don't depend on what someone else said because that someone else could be wrong.

Esther and I taught our children about Jesus Christ the Savior, from a very young age and up. And each one, on separate occasions, came to us and said that they wanted to ask Jesus to come into their life and be saved. These were of course joyful times in the Keim family because it had been our prayer for many years that God would draw our children to Himself, convict them of their sins, and save them.

As joyful as it was for us to see them experience the new birth, I would on occasion ask them to go back and re-examine their "new birth" experience. I wanted to hear them tell me one more time - dad, my salvation was real; I still have assurance of my salvation. I also wanted to make sure that they knew they were saved, because after all, they are my offspring and I want to be sure. Now, not only have I done that for our children, I do it for myself also. I think every believer ought to do that.