Your doctor probably runs routine labwork when he sees you for your annual physical. He’s interested in things like your weight and your blood pressure to assess your general well-being.
Physical health has certain benchmarks. If your blood sugar is too high or too low, there’s a problem. If your tests reveal results that are outside of normal tolerances, your doctor will consult with you to figure out how to deal with the problem.
Sometimes I wish our spiritual health could be quantified and charted. We could examine our holiness and see if it is trending up or down. We could be given a printout that shows that we have tested positive for anxiety, greed, pride, or any number of spiritual maladies that often go unnoticed.
Scripture has all sorts of descriptions of things that happen to Christians who are dying: they fall from grace (Galatians 5:1-4), they are led away by error (2 Peter 3:17), they become weak (1 Corinthians 8:11), they move away from hope (Colossians 1:21-23), they deny the Lord (2 Peter 2:1), and even depart from God (Hebrews 3:12).
Unfortunately, many of those who fall victim to these spiritual sicknesses never realize it until it is too late. The devil never brings it to our attention when we are heading down his road.
A wise person takes inventory of his or her spiritual health and well-being. How is yours?