![]() ![]() The goal of faith checkups is to “do something” about the condition of our faith, not to feel bad about ourselves if our faith is weak in any area. Those of us (myself included) who tend to be performance-oriented may start feeling a little tense right now because we think of “testing ourselves” like taking an exam in school, and we fear we might fail. ![]() God wants us to be honest and measure ourselves by how much faith we have. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Faith is really powerful … and that’s why we need to give ourselves faith checkups.īecause of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. This challenges me because it’s not how I’ve been living my life. “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. He wants to give us a rich and satisfying life ( John 10:10), along with the power to do things even greater than Jesus did: I don’t think God wants us to live an uninspired, unbelieving, and miracle-less life. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief. ![]() My unbelief limits the miracles I see in my life, which is what happened to some of the people in Jesus’ hometown:Īnd they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. I start going through the motions of religion without the exciting experience of seeing mountains move. I’ve been experiencing this lately, and it’s not a fun place to be. Whatever the cause, I learn from the verse above in 2 Corinthians 13 that it’s easy for any of us to start “drifting along” in our faith while not truly believing anything is possible. Or perhaps we’ve gotten distracted and stopped nurturing and exercising our faith, so it has started to wither. This can happen for many reasons perhaps life transitions, losses, or other challenges have depleted our faith and made us question God’s care or power. Why do we need faith checkups? Because sometimes our faith in God isn’t as strong as we might think, and we don’t realize it. One of the first things we can do if we want to “walk by faith” is to give ourselves a spiritual checkup-like getting a physical before trying out for a sports team. If you fail the test, do something about it. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Build your confidence with a faith checkup Most of the time, we don’t even realize we are doing it, and that’s why we need to reflect regularly on what it means to walk by faith and whether we are truly doing it. It means we don’t just read passages of the Bible for comfort or reassurance, but we trust them enough to change our daily decisions at work, at school, and in our relationships based on what they say.Īs odd as it may sound, it’s very easy to try to live the Christian life without faith, relying on our religious behavior more than our confident belief in God’s promises. Walking by faith means living in a way that shows we confidently believe in God’s promises, and this pleases God. ![]()
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