When I was studying Mechanical Engineering in College one of the clases that we had to take was called quality control. It was a class that taught how to maintain the quality of a product in the manufacturing process. The process was to take one out of every 20 or 50 in the production line and measure it and record the measurements on a graph chart. This showed even the slightest problem in the process if the product was a little larger or smaller each time. The adjustments could be made and that way the quality could be maintained.
As I was thinking back about this class one day I realised that it is much the same in our spiritual lives. We should be taking measurements on our Christian lives on a regular basis to see if we are failing in one area or another. We should be asking ourselves, “How is my devotional time reading my Bible and praying?” or “When is the last time the Lord really spoke to me through the preaching?”. We should constantly be taking these measurements to see if we are failing in our Christian lives and make the necessary adjustments. If we do this on a regular basis we will be able to see that we are getting weaker in a certain area before it gets to far out of hand. If we don’t do this on a regular basis we might be way off base in our Christian life and not even realise it. This is why we often think that we are good in our Christian life when in reality we are a long way from where we should be. So how can we take these measurements to make sure?
1. Pray
When we pray we should ask the Lord to show us where we are failing. If we truly seek the Lord He will bring to light those areas where we can do better.
We need to spend time with the Lord in prayer on a regular basis. In reality you can tell how well your relationship with the Lord is by how much time you spend in prayer.
2. Reflect
Be Honest with Yourself
The problem is that often we like to think that we are better than we really are.
If we are honest most of us like to think that we are pretty good Christians.
We should stop from time to time and ask, when is the last time the Lord has spoken to me through His word personally, or through preaching.
3. Compare
Normally we compare ourselves to others to see how we are doing in our Christian lives.
It is easy to feel good about ourselves if we compare ourselves to most “Christians” today.
We must not compare ourselves to others but to the Word of God.
That is where we see Christ and our goal is to be more like Him.
4. Ask
You need to be accountable to others.
It is much easier for someone else to see our faults than for us to see them many times.
Give that person permission to ask how your are doing and be open to receive what they say to you.
Overall the key is to be attentive to how you are doing and take time every little bit to take a spiritual measurement to make sure you don’t get off track.