Take Your Spiritual Vital Signs

If you go in for a health check up, the doctor or nurse will be sure to check your primary vital signs, which include your temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. This is the first method they employ to see how you are doing and these simple signs are a good indicator of what kind of shape you are in.

Did you know there were spiritual vital signs too? What are some of these vitals that ought to appear in the heathy born again Christian? The great preacher, C.H. Spurgeon lists six "signs to prove the soul."* Here they are in italics, with my summary comments added:

1. The Christian must show a conviction of sin.

You must recognize you are lost and condemned by your many sins before you can fully understand the good news of salvation. You are spiritually unhealthy if you think you are good enough on your own.

2. The Christian must exhibit a simple faith in Jesus Christ.

The believer must trust that Jesus alone makes it possible to have salvation because he paid the price for sin on the cross. You are spiritually unhealthy if you are trusting in anything other than Jesus.

3. The Christian must have unfeigned repentance of sin.

If you really are saved by Jesus, then you will hate the sin for which Jesus died. You are spiritually unhealthy if you continue to cling to sins without concern.

4. The Christian must enjoy a real change of life.

Being a Christian is not just a change of mind or attitude, it means you have become a new creature completely. You are spiritually unhealthy if you live and think just like you did before claiming a relationship with Jesus.

5. The Christian must practice true prayer.

Imagine if you claimed to be in a relationship with another person and yet you never talked to him or her. You are spiritually unhealthy if you do not talk to God often about what is going on in your life.

6. The Christian must show a willingness to obey the Lord in all His commands.

If you know what God wants you to do and determine to ignore it or if you are totally uninterested in what God expects of you, then you cannot possibly call yourself a real believer. You are spiritually unhealthy if you ignore God's rules for living in this world.

How is your spiritual health friend? Praise God if you see good spiritual vital signs. But if you detect an illness (or worse) there is no time like the present for getting in shape!