Self-Examination

If we indulge in the habit of criticizing the actions of others,

we may lose the power of self-examination which purifies the heart

and makes fit for the Kingdom of God.

The world is so full of evil that it requires an effort to study and cultivate good;

and this effort requires you to think and speak as little as ever you can about the faults of others.

The Christadelphian

1887

Marriage is the union between two persons,

and the marriage of the Lamb is the union with those he recognizes.

If it can be affirmed that his wife hath made herself ready,

it implies that there must have been a previous period

occupied in making herself ready.

They cannot develop character in a flash of lightening;

they have to begin by the perception of the Truth in order to develop character under its influence.

And this that is already in operation, is an incipient development of this preparation of the bride.

It has begun and now is in progress,

but it has not yet reached the culmination appointed.

It will not be consummated until the Lamb shall form a union with those

who constitute them incorruptible and deathless saints.

Till that time arrives,

the bride will consist of persons intellectually and morally prepared by the Truth.

This is the time for that preparation -

Brother John Thomas

The Christadelphian 1869

Some might reason as they did in the Apostles day that

as we are no longer under law but under grace

we can please ourselves;

and that so long as we profess truth we do not need to practice it.

This is a common doctrine,

often urged with seemingly reasonableness.

If our motives are sound, suggest the deceivers, God will not condemn us.

However, the fact is that if a person's motives are right,

he will seek out the will of God and do it.

When Paul taught that we are no longer under the law but under grace,

he meant that personal justification cannot come by reliance upon the law

because we inevitably sin and the law condemns us,

and therefore we are in need of forgiveness of God that comes through grace.

But he did not mean that we can ignore law,

nor that we will be saved whether we obey God or not-

Brother H.P. Mansfield

As a thief, as a midnight robber,

Christ will steal upon the world.

In like manner he will come to many in the brotherhood.

But not so to faithful brethren and sisters.

To these he will come,

not as an unexpected and unwanted intruder,

but as a looked for and longed for friend.

Their attitude will be one of expectancy,

although they may not know the day or hour of the event.

What is our attitude in the matter?

Are our thoughts fixed on Christ's return?

Are we ready and waiting to give him a welcome?

Let us not deceive ourselves.

It is possible for us to believe that we are the friends of Christ

when we are nothing of the kind.

The Scriptures foreshadow the bitter humiliation of many who will have

been so deluded (Matt. 7:22-23).

To avoid such a calamity,

let us engage freely in self-examination.

Do we keep the commandments?

Only those who do are his friends (John 15:14).

May his word so motivate us that we may not be put to shame

in the approaching day of our Lord's appearing.

Logos 1985

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;

prove yourselves..." 2 Cor. 13:5

Are we going backwards, or forwards?

"...Where are we, say, in comparison with our position at the time of our baptism?

Do we love the truth more?

Is our Bible reading and our attendance at the meetings equally enjoyable?

Is our knowledge of the scriptures (the Apocalypse, to wit) greater?

Are we stronger in our power of resistance in the matter of the world's forbidden pleasures?

Are we more liberal in our contributions to the various ecclesial funds?

Are we more helpful in our meetings-

better examples, and more enterprising and industrious?

Has our longing for Christ's return increased?

Have we grown more like Christ in character?

These, and such like, are questions to occupy our minds

in the exercise of self-examination.

And now is the day for it.

Let us be ruthless in our self-criticism.

Let us lay bare our motives, and search deeply our hearts.

Let us compare our attitude, our actions, our speech

in the light of the example provided by

The Lord Jesus,

and recognize that if we fall short of his perfection,

we fall short of his the Divine standard set us.

Let us not forget that a state of (spiritual) insolvency may be reached

through carelessness, as well as through downright wrongdoing.

Hence the many exhortations to be watchful and vigilant.

Now is the time for our spiritual stocktaking."

Brother A. T. Jannaway

Away with grumbling!

We need to remember that evil, no matter what form it assumes

(sickness, persecution, bereavement, financial loss, remorse)

is of divine arrangement.

(Isa. 45:7; Rom. 8:20)

and that God utilizes the evil for eternal good of all who

humbly, patiently, and faithfully submit to it.

(Heb. 12:11; Rom. 5:3;)

Unhappy is the man whom the Father ceases to

take corrective interest.

"Before I was afflicted," said David,

"I went astray, but now have I kept thy word."

"I know, O Lord, that thy judgements are right,

and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me"

(Psa. 119:67, 71,75).

Let us cultivate the mind of the Psalmist,

which was that of all God's faithful ones.

Let us be grateful for trouble.

Let us "rejoice" and rejoice always,

although at times our rejoicing may be accompanied with tears.

(1 Peter 1:6-7; 2 Cor. 6:10)

Let us in this matter shun the bad example of Job's wife, who, in time of trouble,

resented the experience, and copy the good example of Christ who,

in His most depressing moments, studiously faced the sunny side (Heb. 12:2).

"Happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty."

Brother Robert Roberts

We are all moving on a great march,

a vaster assembly than ever moved through the wilderness of old,

and when we stand revealed to Him,

-and He to us -and we to each other -

we shall look back with unspeakable sorrow at the jars,

-and the discords - and the uncharities of this mortal life;

and for every sweet kindness -for every loving helpfulness,

-for every patience, and for every self-denial

or self sacrifice, we shall lift up thanks to Almighty God.

Brother Robert Roberts

Those who submit themselves much to the Bible's influence will,

gradually and insensibly, approach nearer and nearer to the end which it leads.

Progress upwards or downwards is, for the time being, an unconscious process.

You do not feel which way you are going.

But after a lapse of time, if you stand and look back,

you can see which way you have gone, whether you have become more worldly minded,

more selfish, more insensible to divine things,

or more and more awake to the higher relations of being disclosed in the Bible.

It is a very pleasant experience to feel you are making progress,

but you cannot make progress unless you submit yourself to that which will induce your progress:

and the only way you can make certain of your progress in relation to the Truth

is to be continual readers of the Word.

To continually SUBMIT OUR MINDS to the action

of those ideas that have been evolved by the Spirit through the prophets and apostles.

Brother Robert Roberts

Neglect

not the garden of your mind.

Not only dig with the spade of self-examination and restraint,

but plant the right plants and sow the right seed,

and your garden will become beautiful bye and bye,

and will yield you a satisfaction that no one can rob you of.

Brother Robert Roberts

Sin, like a river,

begins in a quiet spring,

but ends

in a tumultuous sea.

If we are not charitable in the true sense,

we may come every Sunday to the table,

and attend every meeting that is held for the truth's sake,

and yet Christ will come and say

“I know you not; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.”

We, therefore, must measure our calling and position by the standard of the word,

and not by the unreliable opinion of mortal man, brother or no brother.

Charity out of a pure heart is the very object of the gospel.

The gospel is but the means appointed for the purification for Christ of a peculiar people,

zealous of good works.

How lamentable is the spectacle, therefore, of persons holding the truth,

and yet uninfluenced by it in their conduct.

Beware, lest we hold the truth of God in unrighteousness.

Better we had never known it than such be the case.

Purity of heart must be the source of rectitude of conduct.

The fruits of the spirit cannot emanate from carnal-minded, unkind people.

Jesus says we may know what kind of a heart a man has by what he does.

A man may wish to be considered the right thing when he is not;

but he cannot long hide himself.

He may deceive people for a time; but only give him time enough,

and he will show himself in his true colors.

Robert Roberts

1869

If our hearts condemn us,

God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things.

There is yet time. Let us examine ourselves.

Let us judge our own selves.

If the record of the past does not appear satisfactory,

it is high time to repent and do the first works.

If, on the other hand, we can say with Paul,

that the “testimony of our conscience” is that,

“in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom,

but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world:”

we have cause to rejoice at the tokens in the eastern horizon,

which tell us of the approaching rise of the Sun of Righteousness,

to fill the world with light and glory.

Brother Robert Roberts

1878

If we believe the Bible,

that should be sufficient to rule out pride.

It is a guarantee that pride inevitably will lead to shame - the very thing that pride fears the most.

Pride is one of the most common characteristics of natural man.

The Bible groups the activities of the mind of the flesh under three heads - lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride.

The lust of the flesh is all the physical desires of the body.

The lust of the eye is the desire to posses and accumulate.

All the rest is pride -

the desire to nourish self esteem and attract the notice and praise of others.

It causes people to paint their faces and wear showy clothing and jewelry, and to talk about themselves and their possessions and accomplishments,

and to struggle to achieve social and economic advantages in the world.

The proud glory in activities that would shame and embarrass the wise.

Pride wears people out, and leaves them unhappy and unsatisfied.

The most dangerous and hopeless form of pride is when it invades

the spiritual realm and disguises itself as zeal and godliness.

Brother Robert Roberts

When brethren confess their sins and forsake them, they are entitled to forgiveness;

but when they defend and vindicate them, they stand in the way of their own mercy. Brother Robert Roberts

1898

There is no danger of true scriptural wisdom fostering pride.

The purpose of scriptural knowledge is to teach us the naked truth about ourselves.

It will drive out our pride - it will expose it and make it offensive to us.

This is the great difference between the healthy effect of Divine wisdom and

the blighting, putting up effect of worldly wisdom.

Brother Robert Roberts

We have ever found that with brotherly love,

as well as every other Christian grace,

those manifest the least who talk the most about it.

Brother John Thomas

1860 Herald

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.”

The ears of the Lord are open always.

But we must approach Him in the right way.

There are certain conditions of approach, and those are indicated here.

One has been already referred to:-“full assurance of faith.”

There is another:-“with a true heart.”

That implies the existence of a false heart.

What is it to have “a true heart?”

Is it not for our heart to be true to God?

Is it not to have our affections fixed upon Him, to love what He loves, to hate what He hates,

much after the manner indicated in the salutation

of Jehu to Jonadab, the son of Rechab

( 2 Kings 10:15 ).

“Is thine heart right, as My heart is with thy heart?”

Let us come then to God with this “true heart”

and “full assurance of faith,

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Brother Robert Roberts

1888

If you feel a thing strongly, you express it strongly,

and the other having only your strong expressions to go by,

naturally conceives a vivid and overdrawn picture of the matter.

The result is that when he is thrown in contact with the man against whom you have been speaking, there is a coldness.

Others hear of it and catch the cold, and there is a general brewing of bad feeling, all through next to nothing at all.

It is as Solomon says, “A little matter kindleth a great fire;” “A tale-bearer separateth friends.”

Talebearers ought to be kept down. They ought not to be listened to.

It is their duty to go to the person themselves.

This is Christ's rule, and there are a lot of little rules,

which if they were observed, would cause a much better state of things to prevail.

If brethren are trying to do their best, encourage them. Do not repeat things. Let us do our duty.

All these things are hinted at in what Peter says in the chapter read:

“Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies and all evil speaking,

as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”

Brother Robert Roberts

1868