If someone asks if you are spiritually authentic how will you respond? Are you spiritually real, spiritually alive? No, this question is not about being perfect, but about being honest with yourself concerning your spiritual health.
One area for evaluation is to consider your view of self. Do you have a healthy balanced view of brokenness and worth? Authenticity is not the same thing as haughtiness. The mature believer always recognizes that he/she is saved by grace. He readily acknowledges, “Without Jesus I am nothing.” But she also has a sense of worth that comes from knowing she is “dressed in his righteousness alone.”
Let me suggest some questions that will prove helpful in evaluating yourself. Honest answers to these queries will give insight into your spiritual authenticity:
- What are your personal devotions like?
- What are you reading in the Bible these days?
- What are some answers to prayer you’ve received recently?
- When was the last time you shared your faith with an unbeliever?
- What sins are you struggling with right now in your life?
- What is the cutting edge of your spiritual life?
- Where are you growing?
- Where is God dealing with you?
Now, go one step further. Have a spiritually mature person, who knows you well, ask you these questions. This person’s insights can help you weigh the answers you give.
Spiritually authentic people not only want to, but also are making steps to honor God in their everyday lives above all else. They surrender control to God in all areas of life. They actively give him heart, mind and body. Jesus is Lord on Thursday as well as Sunday.
Satan loves to have us play the part of the hypocrite. He’s quite content to leave us troubled that maybe our faith is counterfeit. The one thing he cannot countenance is us being authentic.
John Kenneth King
From the Desk of John King 