Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Queen Latifah singing the song… Fix Me Jesus, from the movie Joyful Noise, imploring God to fix our inner selves and make us over into His image.
Highlight Passage: 1st Corinthians 11: 28-29 [NKJV] …
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
… Looking inward before taking the Lord’s Supper.
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Highlight Context – 1st Corinthians 11: 23-34 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s instructions, thru Paul’s exhortation, to examine ourselves inwardly before taking the Lord’s Supper, discerning whether the believer is worthy to participate in the sacred ordinance.
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Reference Passage #1 - Matthew 5:1-12 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, exhorting His followers in His “Beattitudes” to look inward to see if they are worthy of His Kingdom.
Reference Passage #2 - 2nd Corinthians 13:5 [NKJV] …
5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
… Again, the Apostle Paul, inspired by God, exhorting God’s family to examine ourselves to see if our faith is genuine.
Reference Passage #3 - Galatians 5: 16-23 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Another of Paul’s exhortation to look at our attitudes and choices to see if we’re walking in the Spirit … or the flesh.
Reference Passage #4 - Ephesians 4: 1-3 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… So, looking inward, are we worthy of the calling of Christ upon our lives.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Julie Ackerman Link, instructed her readers (me) to look deeply at ourselves to discern the worthiness of how we walk in Christ. She wrote of mankind throughout history, using various devices , such as puddles of water, polished metal, mirrors, photographs, and, most recently digital “selfies,” to look at our outward appearance.
However, the author also wrote, We now have lasting images of ourselves from any given time throughout our entire life. This is good for making scrapbooks and keeping family histories, but it can be detrimental to our spiritual well-being. The fun of seeing ourselves on camera can keep us focused on outward appearance and leave us with little interest in examining our inner selves. … Self-examination is crucial for a healthy spiritual life. God wants us to see ourselves so that we can be spared the consequences of sinful choices.
The Apostle Paul felt that discerning our true-self, i.e., looking inward to see who we really are in our relationship with Christ (see the reference Scriptures cited above), was critical, and he wrote often about examining the real self to see whether we were walking in the Spirit or the flesh [see the reference passages above]. And God, through Paul, felt this was really critical when we took the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of what Christ did for us on the cross (see the 1st Corinthians 11 passage linked above).
When we’re honoring our Lord at His table, we are to look deeply and honestly into our hearts to see if we are walking in the Spirit as Christians. Because if we are not, we should confess our sins and be cleansed by God’s Spirit (on your own see 1st John 1: 9, which I hope you know by heart). I’m doing that inventory of my inner self … right now.
How about you?
My Prayer Today: Oh, dear Lord, … Help me look deeply, and honestly, at my inner self to be worthy of Your calling on my life. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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