“But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” – 1 Corinthians 11:31-32
In Christ, we are a new creation! The old has passed away and the new has come! There is no condemnation for those in Christ! This is wonderful news, glorious truth, and your present reality as a follower of Jesus. However, that doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ, the Lord of your life, the absolute boss over every aspect of life, doesn’t have an opinion about some of your actions, words, and thoughts. He absolutely does!
Salvation in Christ comes with the invitation and command to try and live, speak, and think increasingly like Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit. We fall short of that in standard in many ways, so Jesus invites Christians to regularly, thoughtfully, and thoroughly examine and evaluate ourselves. If we’re faithful in looking for ways we fall short of Christ’s standard, He reveals them to us, forgives us for them, and helps us leave those sins behind.
However, our Lord isn’t afraid to discipline us if we aren’t doing the hard work of self-examination! Christ will absolutely use hard times, setbacks, failures, and seasons of disappointment to help us see our sins and shortcomings – for the purpose of repentance and transformation. Because of Christ’s great love for us, He uses seasons of adversity to reveal sinful attitudes, words, and actions to us and purify us from them. He does this because we won’t be condemned with the world. He has saved us and He will sanctify us. The question is whether we’ll examine ourselves or whether we require Christ’s discipline to see what we refuse to look for in ourselves.