Spiritual Check-Up

​As I get older (note I did not admit to being old!) my personal physician encourages me to make an appointment with him for an annual physical exam.
 
My doctor wants me to check in with him for a check-up so he can check out my health.
 
Quite frankly, I do not look forward to medical examinations. You know the drill. The wait and the weight! Annoying and often convicting lifestyle questions. The poking and probing in a cold room, on a steel table with a backless gown! Then the battery of tests. Needles, specimen cups, X-rays and CAT scans. While enduring the endless examinations, my mind is wondering what kind of a bill I am wracking up in the process.
 
Exam over, my doctor sits down with me to discuss the state of my physical body.  He lets me know the good things happening inside me. I like that part. And of course, he points out what needs to be addressed for me to remain healthy. He recommends a plan for what I need to do. After grudgingly paying the bill, it is my responsibility to carry out what he has suggested as a result of his examination.  
 
Physical health is important. An annual medical exam is necessary because life and our bodies change. The trained professional can find things in my body that I cannot. A doctor’s expertise will pinpoint issues that need addressed and advise me how to adjust my lifestyle for optimum health and productivity in life. No exam and I will not know what is going on inside of me.
 
Spiritual health is even more important than bodily health.
 
Man’s spirit is eternal. Our earthly body is a temporary tent. With age it is collapsing. One day we will receive an immortal, glorified body when we are with Jesus in heaven. I look forward to my new body that will never age and never ache again!   
 
I love the Psalmist David because of his heart for God and his honesty. Writing in Psalm 26:2, David asks the Lord to examine, test his mind and heart. “Examine me, O Lord, and try me; test my mind and my heart.” 
 
Not afraid to seek God, David humbly, courageously, and faithfully presents Himself to the Great Physician for a spiritual examination. Test me God.  Examine me. Check out my mind and heart.  Poke and prod. X-ray me with the Holy Spirit. Take a good look at my spiritual life.  
 
Similarly, David asks God to search his life. Psalm 139:24 reads “Search me, O God, and know my heat; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.”
 
SEARCH ME O GOD. Try me and point out what is going in my heart. Show me what is good. I will continue to do the good things and work to excel in these areas. And of course, most importantly, reveal to me anything that hinders my walk with You and my witness to this lost world. Pinpoint what is hurtful. Search me and show me how I can be more like You and walk with you in the everlasting way.  
 
In 2020, are you seeking to be a better Christian? Do you desire to experience more of God’s love and be used by Him to help hurting, lost people receive His love and forgiveness of sins through faith through Jesus Christ? Do you desire to make a difference for God’s Kingdom on earth in 2020?
 
If this is the desire of your heart, ask God to search your heart.
 
Go to your place of prayer. Take your Bible. Remove distractions. Humble yourself. Then sincerely utter David’s words “Search me, O God”. Tell your Heavenly Father you are reporting for a spiritual examination. You want to know the state of your spiritual life. You want the Lord to do the exam. You trust Him to examine you carefully, thoroughly, gently, and lovingly.  
 
It takes intestinal fortitude (guts!) to leave the ruts in our lives. The unexpected, life-altering challenges ed of 2020 and uncertain days ahead, call you and me to wait on the Lord, asking Him to search our hearts.  
 
Let me ask you some probing questions.
 

• Are you humble enough to acknowledge that you need some work in your spiritual life? Will you submit yourself to the Lord to show you what that work is?

 

• Do you have the courage to open up every area of your heart and life to the Lord for examination? A no holds barred checkup. Will you take your hands off and allow every aspect of your life to come under the scrutiny of God’s search light?  

 

• Are you ready to receive whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to you? Whatever God points out to you that needs correction, will you accept it graciously, go out and make the adjustments you need to make?

 
To continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we must go, check in with God and ask Him to check us out. When is the last time you made an appointment with the Lord for a spiritual examination? If you are overdue, the thing to do is to schedule an exam right away. Get alone with the Lord and let Him examine your life.
 
 Do not be anxious or afraid for God to look you over. Check in with Him for a check-up. It is for your good!
 
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves. Of do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you indeed fail the test?”        II Corinthians 13:5
 
“Thou hast tried my heart; Thou hast visited me by night; Thou hast tested me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”    Psalm 17:3
 
A Word For Your Week: Revival and renewal starts when we ask God to search our heart.