Are you spiritually fit?

This morning at the Stone Church in Toronto, Pastor Don Noble in his characteristic no-nonsense way preached on the subject of temptations. One of the interesting ideas from his sermon is that we give power to our temptations, if we ignore or deny our own weaknesses. Then he drove home the point that "It is very hard to be objective about ourselves."

I would want to emphasize that it is even harder to be objective about our own spiritual condition for two reasons: (1) Our self-rigtheousness prevents us from seeing our own brokenness and sinfulness, (2) Our judgmental attitude towards others makes us feel that we are somehow superior to others spiritually.

That is why Jesus asks: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matt.7:3, NIV).

That is why Jesus warns us: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matt.16:6, NIV).

What makes Pharisees and Sadducees dangerous is that their knowledge and devotion to religion have turned them into legalistic and mean-spirited monsters. Too much theology or too much religion can take away one's humanity!

The temptation, as conceptualized by Pastor Noble, is real -- it is lurking there to trap individuals who spend a lifetime studying the Bible and theology and serving God as pastors and seminary professors without awareness of their own vulnerability to self-righteousness and spiritual hubris. The only way to prevent the tragedy of yielding to this kind of "holier-than-thou temptation" is to undergo regular spiritual fitness checkups.

Spiritual fitness test

Yesterday, I had Dr. Paul Magnus, R.J. Bernardo Family Chair of the Tyndale Center of Christian Leadership, his lovely wife Jane, and Dr. Barbara Haycraft, Dean of Student Life at Tyndale Univeristy over to my house (which is just a stone's throw away from the campus) for a cup of tea. Our conversation naturally drifted to the issue of how to measure spirituality in our students and Chrstian leaders.

I proposed a "lie detector test" and "the love test". Some Christian leaders are so used to lying that they no longer realize it when that they are lying. Out of expedience, they would say one thing to A and another thing to B, and when confronted about the contradiction, they would easily deny that they have never said such thing to A or B, depending on which one is more powerful. Such pathological liars desperately need help and healing!

The love test has to do with whether a person is habitually rude and unkind to people and or shows genuine compassion and love to others in all situations. Even little children can spot a kind person when they see one.

It would not be difficult to collect data on both the "lie detector" and the "love test". If a Christian leader scores poorly on both of these tests, than his or her spiritual problem needs to be fixed.

Paul Magnus said that he has routinely asked his students to rate themselves on the the fruit of the Spirit as recorded in Galatians (5:22-23); they also need to ask those who know them well to rate them. Any big discrepancy between self-rating and 360-degree rating would be an indicator of spiritual blindness.

Ultimately, our spiritualtiy can not be measured by Bible knowledge or sophistication in theology, but by how we live our daily lives and how we treat others.

The urgency of spiritual fitness test

I was planning to put off this blog entry until after my surgery, but last night I had a dream warning me not to delay. That is why I am rushing this entry out today.

My dream impressed on me the need to sound an alarm about spiritual sickness. Sin, like cancer, is a slient killer. If I do not do regular annual checkup, I would not have known about my aggressive type of prostate cancer. It could have killed me, if I do not receive proper diagnosis and treatment.

The danger of sin is even more serious. If a Christian leader is not aware of his weaknesses and sins, he will not only ruin his own life and his own ministsry, but also inflicts pains on all those to whom he ministers. Christian leaders with serious spiritual problems can and do cause a great deal of damage to God's church.

Yes, it is hard to be objective about our own spiriutal condition. That's why we need others to give us feedback and point out our blindspots. We need mentors, spiritual directors and peer review. We also need to humble ourselves before God each day and examine our own behaviors and thoughts to make sure that they are pleasing to God.

Once we realize our weaknesses and vulnerability to sin, then we will follow the spiritual path of saying "No" to temptation and "Yes" to God's spiritual power.

My readers will find soon find out that the fivefold path to practical spirituality serves both protective and enhancing functions. It wil protect us against our own self-righteousness and spiritual blindness, and at the same time, it will enhance our capacity to love and serve.