2 Questions for Examining Our Spiritual Condition
This is Part Two in the series, “2 Questions for Examining…” Part One: 2 Questions for Examining Our Affection for Christ.
I can handle answers. It’s the good questions that I have a hard time recovering from. They hit harder.
The following are two quality questions. They are thought provoking. Give them both a serious answer.
1. Why do I read the Bible?
Why do you read the Bible? On his blog, Don Dudley writes,
“Our answer will tell us a lot about who we are. I think the reality is, many of us probably cannot answer the question because we do not know.
Most answers will either be based on the need for knowledge (I want to learn about God, history, doctrine, etc) and emotion (I want to be closer to God because he makes me warm and fuzzy).
What happens beneath the surface is we tend to embrace intellectualism or we embrace an emotional faith with no balance in between.”
2. Is there anything in my life that can be explained only because of God Himself?
In his book, How to Give Away Your Faith, Paul E. Little writes,
“The problem of mere ‘environmental faith’ is plaguing the church of Jesus Christ today. I use this term to describe spiritual life when it’s largely an outgrowth of our surroundings:
Sundays we always go to Bible classes and worship services where we hear the Bible expounded.
During the week we attend prayer meetings and say our little piece.
Much of our time is spent with Christian friends; we speak the same language.
But that’s about the extent of out Christian life. We don’t know what direct, personal, communication between ourselves and the living God is…Result? When the non-Christian looks at us he sees a reflection of our environment (which he does not share) but nothing more. And it doesn’t impress him. He’s not looking for an environment. He’s looking for living faith…
Suddenly we’re faced with the shallow superficiality of our Christian experience…[W]e frequently need to ask ourselves, ‘Is there anything in my life that can be explained only because of God Himself? Or is everything due to my background, surroundings, and present circumstances? What if, a week from now, my environment should be completely different?”
Here are 10 More Questions to Help You Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to blog updates via email or via RSS
Related posts:
- 2 Questions for Examining Our Affection for Christ
- 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health
- Mistaking spiritual information for intimacy
The second question fits in well with the “Why Seminary?” conversation on Twitter right now. Good question(s). I feel weird saying that because one of them is mine….
Great point, I missed that connection. Makes sense though…if seminary is divorced from “real life,” then it can be just as useless as environmental faith in other contexts.
I love that when I pass my cursor over the photo accompanying this post, a caption appears: “Light Bulb of Thought.” What amuses me is that the filament glows quite dimly, which seems appropriate to the idea that we may not be aware of why we do the things we do pertaining to our professed faith… Do I coast like a dead leaf upon the stream of time, or swim upstream in the river of Life, seeking its Source at the Tree of Life which is Jesus Christ our Lord? Idle floaters would be dim bulbs; smoking flax barely a moment short of whiffing out completely. But our Lord is gracious to fan that ember to blaze againf, if we will but seek for Him to do so…
Thank you for sharing these questions, Daniel. I know I can always find a challenge here; I will be thinking about these and working on answering them in my journal. And speaking of challenges, I’ve just been watching the “Bravehearted Thot” videos put out by Ellerslie School of Honor… some very powerful, heartwrenching, and convicting stuff. (http://www.ellerslie.com/Bravehearted_Thots.html)
I’ve run into so many challenges concentrated in the past few days that seem to confirm that I’m on the right track but that are heightening my sense that it’s time to be going deeper and doing more. I’m wondering and praying about what that is…as always, I’d appreciate your prayers, brother!
Amen, particularly to that last line – Our Lord is gracious to fan the ember to blaze again.
Maybe I should start putting quotes or other things hidden away in the image captions.
I will be praying, especially that “according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Filled with grace, not guilt.
Good stuff. I’ve asked the question often, “Is the Bible true? Why?” It’s really interesting the answers you’d get. Even from learned folks. Try it to your classmates.
Question 2 is interesting. In Acts 2, at the end, it says that others were filled with awe daily, and that people were being saved daly. I know this is largely due to the fact that God was establishing the Church. But this must have been quite attractive to non-believers.
Thank you, Daniel! I greatly appreciate your prayers.