Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health
Question 2: Are You Governed Increasingly by God’s Word?*

The author begins by quoting Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers: “The sum and substance of the preparation needed for a coming eternity is that you believe what the Bible tells you and do what the Bible bids you.” Do we believe that? Following are other probing questions covered in the book and Scripture sources:

-        Do we consider the Bible the single most valuable item on earth?
      (Psalm 12:6; Psalm 19:7-10; Psalm 119:72) Why or why not?

-        Do we suffer from a famine of God’s Word in our lives? The Holy Spirit describes the Bible as “water” (Ephesians 5:26) and food (Jeremiah 15:16). Followers of Christ believe what He believes: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (see Matthew 4:1-11) Interestingly, Jesus was speaking to someone who ironically knows the Bible better than a lot of churchgoers! If God’s Word was created to nourish us, then “eating it”, becoming filled with it is essential.

-        Do we believe the Bible to be the true Word of God? If we dare to call ourselves Christians, then we follow Jesus Christ in His beliefs, words, and actions. See what Jesus says about Holy Scripture – John 17:17; Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 4:16-21; John 6:41-51)

-        Do we believe The Bible--God’s Word-- is authoritative, that it trumps culture in any generation?  (1 Peter 1:24-25; John 6:67-69; Psalm 105:8; Psalm 119:89; Psalm 119:160; Psalm 33:11; Romans 1:16-20; Hebrews 4:12)

-        God uses metaphors or figurative phrases to describe His Word; how might these descriptions clue us on the importance of God’s Word the Bible? In addition to those noted above, God describes His Word as: A light (Psalm 119:105); a fire and a tool (Jeremiah 23:29); a weapon and sword (Ephesians 6:17), and seed (Matthew 3:13-23; 1 Peter 1:23); and likens to water (Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 55:10-11; Isaiah 11:9)

-        Do we seek out in the Bible God’s will and purpose for our lives? (Matthew 5:20; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 27:8; Exodus 20:1-17; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 11:29; Mark 10:17-22; John 5:30; Psalm 40:8; Romans 12:1-2)

-        Do we love God’s Word? (Psalm 119:47,48,97,113,119,127,163)

Scripture speaks of nonChristians as “those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) Indifference to God’s Word of truth is a mark of spiritual death. Without guidance by God through His Word, people remain in spiritual darkness – believing anything that ‘sounds’ good, religious, or spiritual (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

For example, can we locate in Scripture the statement quoted by church people and even nonbelievers: “God helps those who help themselves.”

-        If we believe in the authority of God’s Word, is what we are learning being applied, so that there is a change in our thinking and perspective? Do our preferences, moral core align with Scripture? Do we allow God’s Word to override generational culture, so-called “church” culture, societal and/or world culture where they do not intersect with God’s Word?  (Psalm 119:11; Proverbs 2; Colossians 2:2-4; Deuteronomy 12:28; Jeremiah 7:23; John 14:15-24; Romans 6:11-13; 1 John 2:3-5; Galatians 5:13-21; Romans 1:16,18,21-32; Revelation 3:1-6; Revelation 2:18-29; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 1 Corinthians 5; Proverbs 19:13,16,18,20-23,27    

-        Does God’s Word shape our prayers? Do we know how to pray God’s Word? (Matthew 6:5-15; Psalm 77; Psalm 42; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:10-12 , 5:16-18; Colossians 1:3,9-14; Nehemiah 1; Jude 1:20-21; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 4:7; Mark 11:25; James 5:13-18; Romans 8:26-27)

Lastly, the author suggests meditating on certain areas from a biblical perspective, for example: Church (what it is, attendance, worship inside and outside of, baptism, membership, serving in, giving to, learning in, praying with, fellowship, Lord’s Supper; community of oneness); Discipleship (meditation on Scripture, prayer, evangelism, missions, priorities of schedules, stewardship of “God’s manifold grace,” fasting, silence and solitude, legalism vs. relationship with God); Money (giving, saving, investing, controlling debt, contentment, budgeting, gambling, wasting, not loving it, simplifying with less). Find Scriptures that guide us relative to these disciplines and behaviors, and/or consider certain other areas we individually may have recently been praying about and seek the Bible’s viewpoint on it – locating Scriptures that provide deeper insight and thought.

*The foregoing represents my personal reflections on a study by Dr. Donald S. Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. (2001. By Donald S. Whitney. NAVPRESS. ISBN 978-1-61747-187-2) Quotations and excerpts are from that source, unless otherwise identified. For the 2023 Lenten season I provided these thoughts to my local congregation's Bible study group. The questions are not, however, constrained by a particular liturgical season, holiday, or age group: these are questions every Christian may find useful in fulfilling God's command at 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!" The church at Corinth looked a lot like many of our churches today.