an annual "Spiritual"

Last Sunday was a transitional class period for the Contenders Sunday school class. We had finished studying the book of Titus the week before and we’re going to start studying Galatians this coming Sunday. So to have a little break I decided to have the class do a Spiritual.

We weren’t singing the great and moving songs of the faith that were made famous by African slaves and post-slavery African American singers and songwriters…no, we were taking a look at our spiritual lives in similar fashion as one would go to a doctor for an annual physical exam.

I got this idea from Lynn Wolters, but he got it from a Church Camp preacher/teacher…and he might have gotten it from somewhere else too. The point is that I didn’t come up with this idea myself, but I think that it has a solid enough point and purpose that it will be useful.

What is the point of a Spiritual exam?

Basically, the purpose of this is to facilitate a true introspection of your own Christian walk to see where you need to grow.

”Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

”So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; “ – Philippians 2:12

”These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. “ – 1 John 5:13

The categories that we looked at were varied to show the far reaching scope of how the life of a believer is to be changed by Christ. The categories that we looked at were these:

• My overall relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 5:3)


• Time in the Word (Psalms 1:2,3; Joshua 1:8)


• Prayer Life (Matthew 6:8; James 5:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)


• Sharing the gospel (Matthew 28:19; Romans 10:14,15)


• Service for God (Matthew 6:24; Galatians 1:10; 1 Timothy 3:1; James 4:4)


• Church Attendance (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25)


• Obedience to his Word (Ephesians 2:10; 4:1; Colossians 1:10; 2:6)


• Service & Servant leadership (Ephesians 5:22-27; James 1:27)

Other than seeing how well we are doing in these areas, one of the main things that I stressed was to find out which direction you are going? Is my life becoming more Christ-like, more holy, or am I staying the same or slipping down and becoming less Christ like.

I put together a web quiz where I tried to ask questions in such a way that tries to expose the trend of your spiritual life as well as what that says about your spiritual status. The results that you get are not the all-in-all truth, but they may help in telling where you’re at. In other words…take it, but take it with a big (mambo) grain of salt.

You can find the quiz by clicking here.