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!
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
This is a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please
share your connections.
