Spiritual Check-up, Part 1

You might benefit from taking a sustained spiritual check-up via a prayerful reading of Don Whitney's Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.Or, you might feel prompted to take a more modest check-up via this blog, through reading and reflecting upon Whitney's 10 check-up questions, along with brief quotations from his book.Below are the first half of Whitney's 10 check-up questions. On Wednesday I'll post Spiritual Check-up, Part 2.1. Do you thirst for God?Just because a man longs for something that can be found in God alone doesn't mean he's looking for God. A man may pine for peace yet have no interest in the Prince of Peace. Many who claim they are questing for God are not thirsting for God as He has revealed himself in the Scripture, but only for God as they want him to be, or for a god who give them what they want. (pp. 17-18)2. Are you governed increasingly by God's Word?Many professing Christians bump along from Sunday to Sunday, year to year, with no recollection of changes in beliefs or practices as a result of new discoveries in the Word. They would tell you they believer the same as they did years ago. They carry a Bible to church, but they couldn't tell you the last time their daily life was altered by it. (p. 31)3. Are you more loving?Can anyone think he is growing in love and thus becoming more like Jesus when, just like those who hated Jesus, he only loves with reciprocal love? The test of Christlikeness is not the greatness of your love toward those who love you, but the bounty of your love towards those who do not. (p. 46)4. Are you more sensitive to God's presence?...how often are you aware of the presence of God? If we take the teaching of the Bible seriously, perception of the presence of God should not be an occasional experience. I do not mean that we should frequently feel a supernatural presence, for that can be extremely unreliable. Nevertheless, it should not be unusual for us, wherever we are, to recognize that "God is here." As we grow closer to Him, generally speaking, we should discern His immanence more readily and more often. (p. 56)5. Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and temporal needs of others?Christianity is a religion of concern for others. Among what are called the "great religions of the world," Christianity has no parallel when it comes to demonstrating concern for people and for their needs. Whether the needs are temporal or eternal, felt or unperceived, no other religion is known for its love and compassion, not only for those within its ranks, but particularly toward those outside its circle of adherents. (p. 70)