We continue this week to look at three further questions as a check on the health of our soul (1). As human beings, we are made of body and soul, and both must be taken care of as part of our stewardship of the life God has given us.
Once again, I pray that as you read these questions, you will reflect on them, and by God’s grace, detect and correct any signs of spiritual problems they may highlight to us.
Pastor Luwin Wong
4. Your enemies: Do you let nothing dominate you?
Christians may have human enemies (Matthew 5:44), and we certainly have demonic enemies (Ephesians 6:12), but our most dangerous enemies are neither human nor demonic, but fleshly (1 Peter 2:11). We wage a war within, with armies of “deceitful desires” attacking territory that Christ has reclaimed (Ephesians 4:22).
As we study these enemies, Paul’s response to the Corinthians may focus our eyes where we don’t think to look:
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
Often, the enemies that cost us most dearly appear lawful, at least at first. They aren’t black-and-white evil, but dangerously grey. Christian freedom assures us that we can venture here without guilt; our conscience becomes accustomed to the arrangement. We can watch these videos, follow these influencers, have this many drinks, notice this person’s beauty, post these thoughts online, spend this much time scrolling, or indulge these fantasies of a different life.
Each of these may be lawful and innocent — and each may eventually dominate us, leading either to a painful fall or a lukewarm life. If we wonder whether any activity, pleasure, or line of thought holds undue sway over us, we might ask ourselves, Could I give this up for the next year? If the answer is no, or if the answer is yes in our head but no in our heart, then we are no longer dealing with something lawful. We are dealing with a dominator, an enemy dressed in innocence.
5. Your friends: Do you practice the one-another commands?
In Christ, we are no longer by ourselves — no longer independent or autonomous or unattached. We are members of a body (1 Corinthians 12:12), stones in a holy structure (1 Peter 2:5), siblings in a family (Ephesians 2:19). We are our brother’s keeper, and our brother is ours.
The one-another commands in the New Testament sketch our familial callings; they are the code of God’s household. As we obey them, we not only live out our identity in Christ but also become channels of God’s grace to each other. The one-anothers are one of the primary ways God matures his children and keeps them till glory.
We might capture the thrust of these commands under five heads:
Have Christ’s humble mind (Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5).
Offer Christ’s impartial welcome (Romans 12:16; 15:7; 1 Peter 4:9).
Speak Christ’s tough and tender words (Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13).
Show Christ’s practical love (1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 4:10; Galatians 6:2).
Give Christ’s forgiving grace (Ephesians 4:2, 32).
As you remember the last year in your local church, can you think of specific Christians who are more holy, more Christlike, because of your presence in their life? Have you given your pastors reason to lead “with joy and not with groaning” because of the ways you have cheerfully followed their lead (Hebrews 13:17)? Have you spoken any words bracing enough to bring back a wandering soul?
6. Your neighbours: Do you make Christ known?
Finally, consider the world outside yourself and the church. Survey your neighborhood, your city, your campus or workplace, and the nations where Christ has not yet been named. The last command Jesus gave us was to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). Do we?
No doubt, rhythms of evangelism and disciple-making will vary across our life stages. Personally, I can testify that making Jesus known looks different as a father of young children than it did as a college student. But no life stage exempts us from the grand adventure of the Great Commission. Nor can a genuinely Christian heart rest satisfied on the sidelines of God’s kingdom advance.
So, has your Christian life run into the predictable ruts of churchly activity, or do you still know the thrill of following Jesus to people and places you would never approach otherwise? Do you still look strange to a world estranged from God — speaking strange words, hosting strange neighbours, taking strange risks for the sake of his name? And even in the midst of a busy life — with little kids or elderly parents or heavy work demands — do you nevertheless yearn to somehow make Jesus known?
Toward a Warmer Heart
The more tender among us might finish these questions feeling freshly discouraged or even condemned. The accuser of God’s children knows how to turn self-examination into an exercise in self-damnation. But the point of searching questions is not to dig ourselves into a pit of misery — not for those who belong to Jesus.
Richard Sibbes writes, “If we have this for a foundation truth, that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us, there can be no danger in thorough dealing” (The Bruised Reed, 12). We can dare to deal honestly with our sins because Jesus has already dealt mercifully with us. And so he always will.
So no, the purpose of these questions is not to condemn, but rather to expose any area where we have cooled insensibly, by degrees, by little and little. And therefore the purpose of these questions is to draw us nearer to the Lord who has warmth enough to melt our coldness, if only we bring ourselves close to him.
Where, then, have you grown cold? In heart, in habits, in hope? Toward your enemies, your friends, your neighbours? Take that coldness to Jesus Christ. Receive “the abundance of grace” he has to offer (Romans 5:17). And then consider how you might recover a warmer spirit and walk more closely with him this year.
(1) Scott Hubbard, (2024, Dec 31). How Healthy is your Soul? DesiringGod
Comments