Key Scriptures
2 Cor 13:5-6 (NLT) - 5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you ; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.
2 Cor 13:5-6 (KJV) - 5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
This month we are looking at spiritual MOT. What is spiritual MOT?
Before looking at the theme of Spiritual MOT, I want to look at a physical MOT that happens – The Car MOT.
After three years a new car in the UK is subjected to a compulsory MOT test. Why are new cars subjected to these tests.it is believed that after three years of driving a new car some vital parts like the brakes, the lights, the mirrors etc. begin to deteriorate and so will need replacing for the car to be road worthy. A car MOT is to determine if a car is suitable or road worthy. A car may still be driven on the road pending the MOT test without knowing it is not road worthy. It is only when the MOT test is done that the driver realizes that has failed the test. What is most interesting in MOT failure is that just one part of the car can fail the car and make it not road worthy. The car MOT is so important it is illegal for a driver to drive a car on UK roads without a valid MOT certificate.
I have over the years also realized that as believers we must stop once in a while and ask God to turn His searchlight on us, and show us where we need spiritual revitalization.
King David in Psalm 139, called on God to turn His searchlight on him.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
He begins this Psalm with acknowledging God’s knowledge of his being, he talks about God’s scrutiny, and makes it clear that he cannot hide from God. He declares God’s faithfulness, and ends this chapter with a request for God to examine his life.
To examine is to put oneself under intense scrutiny, to inspect or scrutinize carefully, to observe, test, or investigate.
Doctors will examine to evaluate general health or determine the cause of illness.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church was for them to scrutinize their lives and see if they were still walking in the faith.
It is not when a person stops attending church services that makes the person a backslider. You can attend church services and do everything a lot of activities, but you have backslidden.
So, Paul was saying to the Corinthians Church, don’t just do religious activities, pause and ask yourself I am living right with God. Are there things in my life that will disqualify me if Christ should appear? Is my heart far away from Good, His will and His Kingdom?
Samson was a man gifted and anointed by God, but he toyed with sin all through his walk with God. The saddest part for me in the story of Samson is what we should avoid as believers. This is found in Judges 16:20-21
20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.
21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.
Judges 16:20-21 (NLT)
We as believers cannot live our lives on presumption. We must always bring ourselves under the searchlight of the Holy Spirit. Search me oh God and see …..
It is God alone who sees the depth of our being not man. It is God who knows our hearts, weaknesses, deepest pains and frustrations. It is God alone who knows our hurts, sees our scares and mends them.
David said Psalm 139:1-6
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You [a]comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have [b]hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
Why don’t you bring yourself under God’s scrutiny today? Let Him search you and reveal to you your anxieties, your worries, your sins, so that He can lead you in the part of righteousness.
