This morning I am fasting for some routine blood work and I am marveling at what medical science can tell us about ourselves with an inside look at our blood. I am also missing my usual coffee-with-cream, but I’m grateful that somebody figured out that black coffee won’t alter your results like they used to think in the old days. No lab technician with a needle wants to encounter me on a morning without my usual dose of caffeine!

This got me to thinking about ways we can do a checkup on our internal spiritual health without a lab or (Thank God) a jab. It is a spiritual discipline known as the Examen.

The Examen is an ancient Christian practice of daily self-examination designed to bring us closer to God. John Wesley developed questions for his Holy Club at Oxford to use every day. Here is a sample of his Examen questions that can help you to honestly assess your soul’s daily health and growth. 

• Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? 
• Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
• Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
• Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
• Did the Bible live in me today?
• Am I enjoying prayer?
• When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
• Do I pray about the money I spend?
• Do I disobey God in anything?
• Do I insist upon doing something about which I am uneasy?
• Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
• Do I grumble or complain constantly?
• Is Christ real to me?

This is one of those practices that we should print out and tape on our mirror, checking it first thing in the morning for guidance and last thing at night for evaluation. Does that list encourage you or intimidate you?

Paul encouraged his church in Corinth to do regular checkups on their faith. He knew it would help them in their effort to be stronger disciples and better as a Body of Christ:

2 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

⁵Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

Is it time for your checkup? Don’t delay! Any change that the list requires is doable. You can turn things around right now, with God’s help.

Jacob Wrestles With an Angel (Akureyri, Iceland)