Not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ is truly following Him. God has seen fit to include this warning in the scriptures to cause us to examine ourselves and consider if our Christianity is real or not.
It is easy to claim to be a Christian. We can fool others, and even ourselves, but when our attitudes and actions are placed alongside the "plumb line" of God's standard the truth is plain to see.
... But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
I will not attempt to make an exhaustive list, but I will put down some key points to look at as we determine the reality of our faith.
1. True faith results in action.
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
Faith is much more than agreeing with some biblical facts about Jesus. An individual who believes in the biblical sense of the word places their confidence in Christ to take full control of their very lives. They commit to follow and obey in all things. To say that I believe Jesus died and rose for me, therefore I am a Christian, while my life remains identical to the atheist's who lives next door, is a denial of truth. Is your faith accompanied with the proof that it is real?
2. Are we purifying our lives in anticipation of Christ's return?
And everyone who has this hope fixed upon Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
In the same way that a bride adorns herself for her wedding day; for the moment that her groom will see her enter the sanctuary, a Christian looks to the day that he or she will see Jesus face to face. A believer does not want to be ashamed of standing before Jesus in soiled garments.
Christ gave Himself up for the purpose of sanctifying the Church. Through the "washing of the word" we are being cleansed so that someday we will stand before Him without spot or wrinkle ( Ephesians 5:25-27). In response we keep ourselves pure through obedience to His word (Psalm 119:9).
3. A lifestyle of sin, or one of righteousness?
In 1 John 3:4-10 we see two lifestyles placed before us. One is marked by the consistent practice of sin. That individual resembles the devil who has sinned from the beginning. The other is a life marked by the practice of righteousness. A person who consistently does what is right and pleasing in the sight of God resembles Christ who is righteous.
The difference between the two is the new birth. A change has taken place in the life of one who has surrendered their lives to Jesus, who has come to destroy the devil's work.
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother
4. Are you fulfilling the law?
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
And He said to him, " ' You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the prophets."
God never intended the Law to be a checklist. It's not something where we can open our Bibles to the first page and mark off each command as we find them and obey them. God wants our love. We are called to love Him first and foremost of all.
To love God is to be passionate about Him. It means we desire His plans and purposes to be fulfilled in the earth, even at great cost to us. If we love God we will make the advancement of His kingdom our priority in life (Matt 6:33). We will avoid the things that compromise and distract us from that mission. An individual who claims to love Him will obey Him. How can we say we love God if we are disobedient? That is a contradiction, it is impossible to love Him while we thwart His plans and purposes, His will, to be done in and through us.
Likewise, we are called to love one another. Jesus makes it simple for us. We are to treat others in the same way we wish them to treat us (Matthew 7:12). Love is the fulfillment of the Law. When we love someone we will not do things that harm that person. All of the commandments find their fulfillment in us when we "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Romans 13:8-10).
James warns us against breaking this royal law of love. In a letter where he confronts favoritism in the Church, he states that this particular sin is a violation of the law. In fact, he likens this particular sin to murder. How we treat our fellow man matters to God. Judgement without mercy will be shown to the unmerciful (see James 2:2-12). Do you love God first and foremost of all? Do you treat others in the same way you would like them to treat you? The two commandments are bound up in each other. You can't keep one and break the other. It doesn't work that way.
I could go on with many more points, but these are sufficient to make the point. Search the word, test yourself. How does your Christianity line up with the scriptural standard?
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