Lent Devotion: The Discipline of Self-Assessment
By Rev. Daniel Lee
Rev. Daniel Lee is a trophy of God’s grace currently serving at All Saints Presbyterian Church. He previously served with Prison Fellowship Singapore and considers it a blessing to be a vessel of God’s unfailing love to the incarcerated community.
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”
- 2 Corinthians 13:5
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I pray that all of us will be ministered by God and His Word during this Lent season. Maybe, some of you are journeying through Lent devotionals, especially, devotionals that bring us back in time where Jesus’ made His way to the Cross.
For those who are not doing any Lent devotionals, I strongly encourage you to set aside time with God and His Word that remind us of His gracious love for us in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, this season is a good time for us to assess our spiritual growth just as the Apostle Paul urged the believers in Corinth to examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith.
Regular spiritual assessment is an essential discipline to evaluate our spiritual health just as we do with our physical health.
We often assess our physical fitness by means of challenging ourselves to lift something heavy or push to go farther or faster. Our yearly health check includes a variety of tests to assess our physical wellbeing.
And we need to take remedial steps when we are alerted of any health issue through the medical assessment.
In like manner, the assessment of our spiritual health is an avenue for self-examination to gauge whether we fail the test as Paul’s cautioned believers in the second part of verse 5, “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test”? (2 Corinthians 13:5b)
Here are some familiar and yet essential spiritual disciplines for our self-examination:
· Am I doing quiet time for reflection and self-examination?
· Am I spending time reading/studying God’s word regularly?
· What is my prayer life like?
· Am I bearing the fruit of the Spirit?
· Am I using my gifts and talents to serve God and others?
As we take the time to examine ourselves and answer these questions honestly, we can identify areas in our spiritual lives that remain stagnant, that have room for growth or areas we are strong at.
Just as we work to strengthen weak muscles in our bodies, we can work to strengthen our spiritual muscles through intentional practices and regular assessment of our spiritual standing with God.
May all of us have a fruitful assessment and recalibration of our spiritual life in this Lent season as we remember the sacrificial death of our Saviour on the Cross that atoned for the sins of you and I.