Activity or Progress? - Part 2

As we continue, let's consider some 'self-check points' to inspect our heart in relationship toward God....

5. Are you more concerned with the physical and spiritual needs of others?
Luke 9 tells of Jesus’ encounter with a crowd of people. We’r told, “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” This was typical of Jesus. He taught them God’s truth and then often He would heal or feed them. He was concerned primarily with their spiritual needs but cared deeply about their physical needs, too. The more we become like Jesus the more we will be concerned about others in this way. A sure sign of Christian growth is seeing needs you never saw before and beginning to meet them.

6. Are you more concerned with the church and the kingdom of God?
In Ephesians 5 there is emphasis (by analogy) on Christ’s love for his church, so much that he died for her. The more we grow to become like Jesus, the more we will love his church, too. We will be concerned with our local part of his church and with the work of His kingdom as a whole.
Christians who isolate themselves from the church aren’t growing stronger by their isolation. They are like a body part that’s separated from the body.

7. Are the disciplines of the Christian life more important to you?
Growth in godliness is ultimately a gift from God, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing for us to do. I Timothy 4:7 encourages us to “discipline (ourselves) for the purpose of godliness” (NASB).” It’s a simple fact: those who grow most steadily are those who place themselves in the channels of grace such as the intake of God’s Word, prayer, worship, evangelism, silence, solitude, journaling, learning, fasting, and so on.

8. Are you more aware of your sin?
In the latter days of the Apostle Paul’s life, when he was about as mature as a Christian gets, he described himself as the worst sinner in the world (I Timothy 1:15). How could he say that, since he was probably more like Jesus than anyone we’ve ever met? It’s because the closer you get to Jesus, the more aware you become of your own sin and how unlike Him you are.
The more you grow as a Christian, the less you will sin. But it often will seem as though you sin more because your sensitivity to sin will be so much greater.

9. Are you more willing to forgive others?
Ephesians 4:32 exhorts us to forgive each other “just as in Christ God forgave you.” Forgiveness is one of the hardest and most unnatural things we could be asked to do. But the more we become like Jesus, who forgave even those who nailed him to the cross, the more we will be willing to forgive.
Are you still bitter at something from the past? If so, regardless of all your Christian activities, you have deceived yourself about having made any real spiritual progress.
Have you forgotten any long-time hurts during the past year? If so, then you have made a measurable advance in Christian maturity.

10. Are you thinking more of heaven and being with the Lord Jesus?
Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23-24 “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” The more he became like Christ, the more he wanted to “depart and be with Christ”. Do you think that often? One of the signs of becoming more like Jesus is increasingly wanting to be where He is.

Thus concludes this thought-provoking article.
It gives me pause to consider my own walk with God, and also fuels the fire of my passion to love God with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
And not to sit back in apathy, but to run hard after God…not merely through ‘activities’ but through the spiritual disciplines (as described and exemplified in His Word) that put me in the path of His grace.
It’s His call.
But my calling.

Lord, fill my heart with longing for, pursuit of and satisfaction in You. Don’t let me grow comfortable with being comfortable! Distinguish the flames of my lesser loves, and instead emblazon the inferno of my love for You! And please, never, ever allow activity to counterfeit for relationship, nor let me confuse busy-ness with sanctification.
~Amen