If We Would Judge Ourselves – 1 Corinthians 11
‘For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.’ — 1 Corinthians 11:31
The Corinthians were a special group of people, who had many gifts, abilities and blessings. But their talents and gifts caused them to be prideful and to overlook sin.
The book of 1 Corinthians is God’s call to them, through the Apostle Paul, to examine themselves and to judge their own sin, so that they were not judged (chastened) by God.
This principle of ‘judging ourselves’ is very important for the believer. We need to open up our hearts and lives to the judgment of Scripture and the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 4:12). As God reveals rebellion, pride, lack of love and other sins, we need to confess those sins to the Lord and make things right.
One big area of our life we need to judge is our relationship with others. The bread and cup of the Lord’s supper showed their oneness (1 Cor 10:17), yet when they hurt other members of the body of Christ, they were divided and did not understand how important the church, the body of Christ is.
So, what needs to be judged in your life today? How is your relationship with God? How is your relationship with others in the church? Let us learn to judge ourselves so that we do not face stronger chastening from our Heavenly Father.