Thought for the Day - Saturday 22 August

 

Thought for the Day – Saturday 22^nd August

‘Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t at all.’ (2 Corinthians 13: 5)

 

I don’t know about you but it seems as I get older that my life becomes ever fuller of check-ups!

 

Over the years due to the workings, or rather not workings, of my immune system I have always had yearly check-ups with several different doctors at several different hospitals but as I age it seems more and more doctors are becoming involved in my care and wishing to add me to their list! Then of course, there are the dental check-ups, the eye-check-ups and I am sure next will come the hearing check-ups.

 

We certainly can’t deny it is good to have all these medical check-ups so that if any problems are found they can be dealt with and hopefully rectified before they take hold. So, if this is true for our medical health then why as Paul is suggesting here should it not be equally true for our spiritual health, surely our spiritual health too needs regular check-ups for it too might just be deteriorating with age. 

 

Sometimes as the years pass for us as Christians it can be all too easy to become complacent, we can become disillusioned, we can even just become downright weary and each and every one of these conditions can sap our faith and that vitality and enthusiasm we once had at being a Christian and following Jesus’ way.

 

So really, just as we need to be aware of any signs of change in our physical health and well-being as the years progress and deal with it, likewise we have to be aware of any change in our spiritual well-being and try and deal with that too and that means that we have to regularly take time to give ourselves a spiritual check-up.

 

Now through this self-examination we need to realise that God does not want us to be fostering a spirit of negative self-criticism that would be the last thing God would want – rather he wants us to conduct an honest self-appraisal of our lives, identify where we need his grace and then seek that grace.

 

In our check-up we need to be asking things like: Are we honouring our vows? Are we living out our lives committed to Jesus? Have we achieved the things we wished to achieve for him and his kingdom? Then if the answer to any of our questions causes us concern then we need to go to God and seek his help – because believe me this is not an occasion for self-help – self-help it is not an option here – God has to be part of the remedy and the cure and when we admit our need of him he will do the rest!

 

I know we do not always like what we find at a check-up but at least when we know where we stand with God’s help we have the opportunity to do something positive to rectify the situation before it is too late.

  

Prayer

 

Loving Lord,

We are so reassured by the words of the Psalmist that you search us and you know us but we acknowledge that sometimes we need to know ourselves more deeply and assess if we are living to your pleasure and your way. As we take time to examine ourselves and our own spiritual well-being, encourage us not to be daunted by what we may find on doing so but rather know in ourselves that if we turn to you in all things and all times that you will indeed replenish and restore our souls. In your name we pray. Amen.