For
as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the
Lord’s death till He comes. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this
Bread, and drink this Cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of
the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup. For he that
eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body. For this cause many are
weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the
world. 1 Corinthians, Chapter 11, verses 26-32.
God
wants me to do some self-reflection before I have communion. It’s
important, especially for “Self-righteous Christians” like me, to
have some humbling time to think about all my shortcomings. It
doesn’t only mean the major vices. Some of us get big heads
because we don’t think we have those obvious vices that others
might have. We often need to be taken down a notch because we are
just as sinful.
We
aren’t to think our sins aren’t as great as someone else’s and
feel that we are more worthy than they are. We are just as sinful by
the subtle things we allow to creep into our lives. These keep us
from being the Christian that God wants us to be. Times when we were
less than patient and loving with our families, the times we yelled
at someone on the freeway, the times we were gossiping with others,
etc.
God
is saying it is better for us to have periodic reflective time now,
judging ourselves rather than continuing to live our sinful,
self-righteous lives. That is preferable to finding out later from
God on the Last Day that we didn’t make the “final cut.”
That’s one eye opener I don’t want, so I need to start by making
changes in my life today!
Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my walk with Christ, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verses.
