Annual Spiritual Checkup
By Pastor Sagar Sukka / www.misioncasa.org
Each year many of us undergo a physical checkup, perhaps a financial checkup at end of the fiscal year, or maybe even a performance review at work. But how often do we take time to review our spiritual life?
The Bible says in II Peter 3:18 that those saved by grace are called to grow in grace (2 Pet. 3:18). As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to live a life of love: love for God and love for our neighbor, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Too often, in the busyness of life, we let other priorities crowd out our call to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Therefore, we must periodically undertake a spiritual checkup in order to align ourselves with Jesus’ command. The steps involved in our spiritual checkup is similar to a physical checkup: first, we need to “diagnose” the problem, and then “deal” with the issue.
Diagnose: It has been more than a year since one of my best friend’s mom passed away because of the wrong diagnosis. She had a problem with her lungs, but they were only treating her for diabetes. Since the symptoms were almost same for both the conditions, they just assumed that she had only one illness to deal with. After a while they came to realize that she had cancer as well; but it was too late to treat it. You might be asking how can one do a spiritual diagnosis? Many of us try to call sin as a mistake. Moreover, our standard of righteousness generally comes from our culture. We often say, “It’s OK” & “It’s not a big Deal”. The two means that God uses to help us diagnose our spiritual malady are:
- Word of God: The Word of God is the mirror that reveals our weakness and Sin (James 1:22-25). Our standard is not culture but Christ. We ought to imitate Christ not the culture. We can look at the Bible in one of two ways: we can “glance” at the mirror or “gaze” into it. Glancing at God’s Word will not change our life. As I mentioned above, it is safe to say that the doctors who treated my friend’s mom only glanced at the problem; if only had they gazed at her situation, she would have lived a little longer.
- Words of Godly Men/Women: God uses people to reveal our sin. If you are married your spouse and your kids can expose your sin; if you are single your parents, siblings and friends can help you see your sin. If you are a church member, your pastor and the spiritual leadership of the church can help you diagnose your spiritual problem. Though I admit that there is a danger in only believing other people’s diagnosis; it is worth taking seriously, if a good number of people say the same thing about your problem.
Deal: From our diagnosis, we know what kind of spiritual illness we have. Some of the dangerous spiritual maladies include lies, self-righteousness, anger, gossip, lust, selfishness, manipulation, addiction. It’s hard to admit when someone says to us that we are self-righteous. The initial tendency is to counter-react and prove that we are not. But as children of God we need to be willing to accept and deal with our spiritual sickness. The only way to deal with it is to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our life in to the image of Christ. Even as we enter into a new year, let us resolve to do a spiritual checkup, seeking to diagnose and deal with our spiritual maladies as God is willing to heal you.
