Together - Daily DevotionalSample

An Examined Life

Reading: 2 Cor.13:4-6

Key Verse: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you ... ?” v.5

The Greek philosopher Socrates is credited as one of the founders of Western Philosophy and is renowned as the author of the famous quote, “the unexamined life is not worth living”. The suggestion is that we are more than likely to fail to live to our greatest potential and fulfillment if we do not sometimes review our attitudes and behaviours. An unexamined garden may be choked with weeds and brambles whilst an unexamined car may be positively dangerous to drive. 

The New Year is traditionally a time to examine ourselves – not for self-condemnation but to identify challenges to overcome. Some religious people are prone to examine their lives so critically that they carry with them a crippling sense of failure. That is not the point of today’s Key Verse. It is to recognise that Jesus Christ is in us and that with His help we can identify and remove spiritual weeds that might otherwise choke our faith. We can then replace them with attitudes and activities that strengthen our faith so it flourishes and becomes attractive to others. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us so we can be transformed into the image of Jesus.

Prayer: Holy Spirit please reveal and remove any spiritual weeds and plant new seeds in my heart