Workout #1: Build Yourself Up in the Faith

I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith...

Jude 3

Evangelicals often emphasise spiritual life and the importance of the new birth. We rejoice when people give testimonies of how they came to faith in Christ. But spiritual life is no guarantee of spiritual health. You may be spiritually alive, but are you spiritually fit?

We know what it’s like to be out of shape physically. What does it look like when we’re out of shape spiritually? Here are some symptoms:

• Loss of vigour and vision: Lethargy creeps in.
• Loss of enjoyment of God, the Word, and worship: Your experience of the nearness of God or of brokenness of soul is a memory, but it is no longer a living experience.
• Loss of gratitude: You worry about what God has not given you, rather than rejoicing in what He has given.
• Loss of spiritual hunger and thirst: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1). This is a soul that is in good shape.
• Loss of compassion: The needs of others are a burden to you; you become impatient with their faults, and you feel frustrated at their lack of progress.

These are some of the symptoms of a soul that is out of shape. There is only one way to deal with the problem and that is to get into God’s exercise room.

Rank these symptoms on a scale from 1 to 10: “1” means you see no signs, “5” means you see regular signs, “10” means you see signs of this symptom on a daily basis.