Why would Paul admonish us to conduct a self-examination prior to taking the Passover?
He says in 1 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
It is important to stop on occasion and analyze our progress as Christians and our relationship with God to maintain the goal of walking in the footsteps of Christ, our perfect example, who never sinned, and to understand that sin acts as a barrier in our relationship with God.
It is a perfect time to do that prior to taking the Passover which we are admonished to take in a worthy manner, according to the instructions from God through Paul.
Since even a little sin will corrupt the individual just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, we have to be cognizant of this fact and make a genuine effort to get rid of sin and replace the void left from that removal with righteousness.
It is amazing how a little sin can become not that big a deal in our minds; yet, we must deal with it or it will deal with us. A stain on a carpet might be delayed in being cleaned up because we may think it is not a major issue. The longer we put it off, the more it is accepted. Later, it just becomes part of the decor. We must never allow sin in our lives not to be dealt with, so that it just becomes a decor.
Sin by itself will not just disappear on its own. Satan is smart enough to know that if he can get us to just compromise a little bit with God’s laws and not deal with it, he has taken hold of us. Realize that he would like all of us to fail in our journey into the Kingdom of God and to become born-again members of the God Family.
Killing us physically does not remove salvation from us, but failure to put sin out without repenting and getting rid of it can be our ultimate downfall.
At times, little sins can go unnoticed until we do a complete analysis. I remember a minister in the 80s, relating to my wife and me that during the Days of Unleavened Bread, he and his wife were sitting in their living room.
Years ago, some houses had a ledge to put small ornaments and knickknacks about a foot from the ceiling and about eight inches to a foot deep. They were sitting there, looking at the figurines and ornaments and something caught both their eyes. It was the top of their wedding cake with a small man and woman on top dressed in wedding clothing which had been up there for years. The thought came to mind that they never checked it since at times the top is made of cake and the cardboard or wood is sometimes decorated with the figurines on top. They took it down to check it and to their dismay, they found it to be cake, with leavening in it which had been there in full view since they were baptized. This is like sin, which might be in front of our eyes, but we sometimes fail to see it.
The importance of examining ourselves thoroughly cannot be stressed enough, especially at this time of year. Let us therefore ensure we conduct that examination, clean ourselves up by repenting of our sins, and partake of the Passover in a worthy manner.
