Spiritual evaluation is an important practice for discipleship.  It is to look back and try to evaluate the past.  What did we accomplish? Where did we fail? How can we do better.  The problem is that evaluation of spiritual things is not all that easy.  We can count statistics and we should, but that doesn’t really tell the story.  Spiritual growth or health can’t always be objectively measured.

Several years ago this letter was written to the editor of a British paper:

“Dear Sir,

It seems ministers feel their sermons are very important and spend a great deal of time preparing them.  I have been attending a church quite regularly for the past 30 years and I have probably heard 3,000 of them.  To my consternation, I discovered that I cannot remember a single sermon.  I wonder if a minister’s time might not be more profitably spent on something else?

Sincerely,…”

For weeks a debate was carried on through letters to the editor.  Finally, the uproar ended when this letter was printed:

“Dear Sir,

I have been married for 30 years.  During that time I have eaten 32,850 meals–mostly of my wife’s cooking.  Suddenly, I have discovered that I cannot remember the menu of a single meal.  And yet, I received nourishment from every single one of them.  I have the distinct impression that without them, I would have starved to death long ago.

Sincerely,…”

This is not an argument against the need for spiritual evaluation any more than regular physicals.  It is simply a reminder that it is not as simple as counting people or dollars as important as that is.

We know that when we don’t pray, worship(including hearing the Word of God proclaimed), share our lives together, and minister in Christ’s name we cannot be spiritually healthy and may die.

A spiritually healthy life-style–let’s go for it!

Filed under: The Journey | Tagged: Christian, Discipleship, Life, Spiritual progress |