Inspect What You Expect

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ESV). When I was in the car business we had a management philosophy of “inspect what you expect.” It simply meant that we were committed to inform, train, and equip those whom we managed to perform at a level of expectation that management sets. Sometimes those expectations were not met. Usually the reason for the failure was in a breakdown of one of the three areas of information, training, or equipment. However, without the inspection, we would never be able to correct the failure. This is not the only place for such inspections. Inspections are just simply part of life. In many large cities you have to get your car inspected to make sure your muffler system doesn't allow the emission of excessive pollutants. When such a system was instituted in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area for the first time, there were waits of over three hours to get the inspections completed! It was not received well at all. But, it was necessary if the air quality was to be protected from serious pollution in the future. Our food is inspected to insure its quality and freshness. Construction is inspected to make sure that all appropriate standards for safety are being met. When we cash a check or use a credit card, our identity is inspected. All of these and more are a part of our daily lives. Yet, often we feel that inspections are an aggravating nuisance. It’s hard to admit that most of them are for our good. This is especially true with the inspection of our lives by Christ. In today’s reading, Paul expressed his gratitude that his "inspector" is the Lord, not people. They don't see it all. They make mistakes. But Jesus' guardianship and overseeing of our souls is always right. Jesus knows every spot of our iniquity. He sees every sin blemish. He is aware of every wrinkle that is out of sync with His will. His purpose, however, is not merely to find fault with us. He longs to forgive us and draw us back to Himself. We can be glad that Jesus Christ is watching over our spiritual well being. The One who died to pay the penalty for our sin is the One who watches over us until we go to be with Him forever. Yield yourself to both His inspection and His instruction for correction.