“Every man’s work shall be made manifest,,,, tried by fire to see what sort it is” (1Cor 3:13).
I worked in the car industry for a time and has seen it changed for the better in terms of technology, safety and reliability, some systems put in place to make vehicle faults easier to diagnose by having the car tell us what’s wrong we can therefore go right to the problematic component and repair or replace.

In a similar way, we have a God given inbuilt spiritual system that some call conscience. Others call it a moral compass, or just simply knowing the difference between right and wrong. However, we rarely see our own faults, and resist our own consciences. We often do not see that our behaviour has knock on effects in other parts of the body of Christ, the church. So Paul says examine yourselves. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2Cor 13:5). The danger of being deceived was worrying as there were disorders in the church. Many people had themselves demonstrated their ignorance making it difficult to call them Christians. Examine yourselves, was a strict and impartial request to thoroughly check and prove yourself, to see if you are in the faith. In other words, diagnose yourself by using the Holy Scriptures as your guide.

Do you live by Christian faith which demonstrates belief in God’s law? Are you in the household of faith, the body of believers? Have you been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, going from glory to glory? If we can say yes to all these then no corrupt conversation should proceed out of our mouths (Eph 4:29). Speak evil of no one (Titus 3:2). Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with malice.

I Pray in the name of Jesus Christ, that we can all say yes. Yes, without doubt, trusting in the faith of Jesus Christ, living in love, in the unity of the Spirit (Eph 4:3-5). I pray that from this moment, we put away: all bitterness, anger, slander, and malice without loud shouting and protest. Amen.