Self-examination for each day is important in our lives most especially as an average Nigerian youth who sometimes have no program for the day. Indeed, one of the hardest things in life is to question the SELF, and to question the other is the easiest thing to do. Nevertheless self-examination is difficult because it means examining your inner life. Who can know his own heart? Are these feelings natural or are they the work of the Holy Spirit? The heart is deep. Eternity is there. It is unsteady and deceitful because of remaining sin. Again, is it difficult because of our love of ease.
However, examining the self for each day is invariably questioning the self. A strict investigation of our spiritual state, to know whether we are in the faith, to know our defects that we may overcome them, and the improvements that we make, that we may be encouraged thereby. Self-examination is the key to happiness and contentment starts with understanding who you are and how you can improve yourself. Examination is a process to determine the nature or condition, it is also a way to test the knowledge or proficiency. So if we examine ourselves, we would like to determine the condition of our faith, we try to prove ourselves to know if we are still in alignment with good virtues.
The questions for the examination of the self are:
1. How did I live my life today?
2. What did I do today?
3. What did I achieve today?
4. Where didn't I get it well today?
5. Who have I offended today?
Writing on the need to self-examine ourselves, St. Paul writes in I Corinthians 11:28-30: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep". “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” —II Corinthians
13:5
If we continually examine ourselves, the result will always be fruitful. We got to really know ourselves. We can say that most of the times we learn from what we experience in life. And life offered us so much trials and sufferings, which helps us to be a better person and a better servant of the light. It also let us experience joy, contentment, growth in ourselves and peace, they are all blessings.
ke an introspection of ourselves which will help us find out what is wrong with ourselves and no others. This is because we focus sometimes on other persons thinking that they are our problems but we do not know that we might be our problem. For this reason, Matthew 7:3-5 say, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." In another way, it helps us to pay attention to ourselves.
For the highest deception is to deceive oneself, that is, if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his load, self-examination helps us to find out who we are and not what we think we are.
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