Spiritual Inventory

Spiritual Inventory

Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.

For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

I do not sit with men of falsehood,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites.

I hate the assembly of evildoers,
    and I will not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O Lord,

proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.

Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
    redeem me, and be gracious to me.

My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

Psalm 26

Inventory is critical to any business.  One of my many jobs in my twenties was at an electrical wholesale.  If we didn’t keep up on our inventory, it would affect the orders we would attempt to send out.  Nothing was more frustrating than trying to fill a critical order and not have the part.  As it is in business, it is important to take inventory in our lives.  In recovery, participants are told to take a spiritual inventory.  Usually this is an opportunity to get out all of the junk in a person’s life; what they have done and what has been done to them.  When you take a minute, and look to see what you are doing and have done, it is much easier to see what is going right and what is going wrong.  If you read the ESV, verse two will have a footnote that states that the Hebrew reads, “test my kidneys and heart.”  I had to know what that meant, so I went to the source of all knowledge, Google.  If you have ever studied physiology, you will learn that the kidneys are a filter for our blood.  When we are made new by Christ, we have the ability to filter out all the junk in our life.  We become more like Christ, even if our environment is not very Christian.  I also found another obscure reason why King David would want his kidneys tested; it was believed in eastern medicine that life originated in the kidneys.  If a man experiences renal failure, he cannot reproduce.  This again goes back to the inventory, do our actions show signs that we have new life in Christ?

In the Christian life, it is easy to focus on what others are doing.  It can be easy to be frustrated when the culture around us celebrates abortion, homosexuality, and gender confusion.  They literally want nothing to do with God.  One of the signs of the Christian life is the hatred of sin, notice how I didn’t say sinners.  God calls Christians to love each other (John 13:35), our neighbors (Mark 12:31), and our enemies (Matthew 5:44); that’s pretty much everybody.  When our focus is on God, He gives us an inexplicable love for others.  Our sinful nature is very interesting because we are born with it, yet we willingly embrace the very thing that will kill us.  Remember, Jesus loved each and every one of us while we were still sinners yet He hated the very sin we were guilty of committing.  I have been told multiple times by multiple people that if I make God my first priority, everything else with fall into place.  If we have trouble loving those around us (even those who are not Christian), it may be an indication of our focus on the Gospel. “Look to others and be distressed; look at self and be depressed; look at Jesus and you will be blessed.”

Another way we can measure progress is by our service.  How are we serving God?  How are we serving the Church?  How are we serving each other?  What I absolutely love about our church is the familial bond that we have.  I have felt the love since the first Sunday I showed up, and I see it every day when I get notifications from the GroupMe app.  The Christian life is about serving.  When Jesus was here on Earth, He came to serve and not be served (Matthew 20:28).  We learn sacrificial love.  We are not the center of the universe, God is.  

When taking our inventory, we must remember that we will never be perfect while alive on this Earth.  I have been told we should claim progress over perfection.  Each one of us is a sinner saved by grace, now a child of God.  No one of us was more of a sinner than another, and none of us is more of a child than another.  We are all family and if you remember that great quote from Lilo and Stitch, “Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

I love you all,

Justin