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Examine Yourselves, November 26
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?
2 Corinthians 13:5
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“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Many ... may
immediately respond, “Why, yes; I am in the faith, I believe every point of
the truth.” But do you practice what you believe? Are you at peace with
God and with your brethren? Can you pray with sincerity, “Forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors”? ... Is there no bitterness in your hearts,
no envying, no jealousy, no evil surmising? ... Is there no emulation, no
desire for special favor and honors, no wish to have the supremacy? ...
We do well to examine ourselves to see what manner of spirit we are
cherishing. Let us learn to speak gently, quietly, even under circumstances
the most trying. Let us control not only our words, but our thoughts and
imaginations. Let us be kind, be courteous.
Many are sensible of their great deficiency, and they read, and pray,
and resolve, and yet make no progress. They seem to be powerless to
resist temptation. The reason is, they do not go deep enough. They do not
seek for a thorough conversion of the soul, that the streams which issue
from it may be pure, and the deportment may testify that Christ reigns
within. All defects of character originate in the heart. Pride, vanity, evil
temper, and covetousness proceed from the carnal heart unrenewed by
the grace of Christ. If the heart is refined, softened, and ennobled, the
words and actions will testify to the fact. When the soul has been entirely
surrendered to God, there will be a firm reliance upon His promises, and
earnest prayer and determined effort to control the words and actions.
We profess a great and holy faith; and our characters must be in
accordance with that faith, and with God’s great moral standard....
Let us examine our hearts in the light of the great principles of the law
of God as defined by Christ: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour
as thyself.”
Luke 10:27
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