Evaluation

 Yesterday, we started talking about what we, as the church, do.  Namely, Jesus gave us the mission of making disciples.  Though we didn't talk about it directly, we need to remember that we are disciples if we are going to successfully make disciples.  You can check out the message here and see the outline of stages of spiritual growth that we used to think about what marks spiritual maturity.  As I said in the message, the specific stages and characteristics do not come from a specific passage in the Bible.  Rather, they are a system developed by Jim Putman and others from the New Testament as a whole.

I believe the hardest part of using this outline, or any other for that matter, is accurately evaluating our own level of spiritual maturity.  A word of warning here: we must ask questions from time to time and consider how we have grown, are growing, and need to grow but we can easily get lost in self-examination and miss many opportunities we have been given to make disciples and love others.  Like many things in life, there is a balancing act between too little of an exercise and too much.  One of my main concerns in growing in Christ is that we haven't spent much time thinking about it at all or we have used poor standards to measure our maturity.

I grew up checking boxes on my offering envelope.  I suspect this not only dates me but also marks my denominational heritage.  Whether I was staying for worship, had studied my Sunday School lesson, had brought my Bible, and/or was giving an offering offered opportunities for me to congratulate, condemn, or make excuse for myself.  Checking these boxes or not, never seriously threatened to become how I evaluated my life with Christ but how many of us have thought something along the lines of, "I go to church, I know more about my Bible than most of my friends, and I'm nicer than I could be to some not-very-nice people.  I'm doing pretty well."  Check, check, and check!

The stages I walked through Sunday in the message are pretty different than those boxes.  I encourage you to check them out and ask the tough questions.  Let me also offer another question in this process of evaluation.  "How am I doing loving others?"  Thanks to Bill Hull and Brandon Cook for this question.  While Putman's stages are helpful in taking a look at the big picture of my life, you can ask how you're doing loving someone at anytime.  It works when looking at the past week or month and also works on the last decision you made and the one you're facing now.

Again, I think accurate self-evaluation is one of the toughest things in the world to accomplish.  Pride and self-condemnation are equally attractive tools to our Enemy.  I think everyone knows the dangers of pride but did you know Satan means Accuser?  He's really good at it.  Certainly, we need the Holy Spirit to speak.  He is the one who both knows and loves us best.  Others who love us can help.  Where does your spouse see spiritual growth in you?  How about your kids or parents?  Your closest friends?  You might be pleasantly surprised at their answers.  Of course, they may also point out some blind spots but the "wounds of a friend" are faithful (Proverbs 27:6).

Following Jesus frequently leads to things that feel uncertain and certainly uncontrollable.  I have always found Him faithful and the risks I have taken for Him to have been overwhelmingly worth it.  The next risk always seems like the biggest, though.  Asking tough questions about my spiritual maturity is more than a little scary.  It's always worth it.