THE DISCERNING
MIRROR
Genesis 16: 13. Jamess 1: 24.
Is God saying to me, “You are not in love with Me now”
I remember the time you were?
Why do I
resist the suggestion that I need to go deeper with God?
Have I
an inner conflict against another soul? against myself?
Am I thankful
for the heartbreaks, the disillusionments and tribulation that forces me to my only refuge, God?
What is
the “great sin”
in me that blocks the Holy Spirit from getting all of my life?
Do I
know enough of the guidance of the Holy Spirit not to proceed when doubt makes
a conflict?
What do
other people’s criticisms do to me?
When I
leave a group of people, do I leave an impression of myself, or of Jesus?
Have I
forgotten how to be sorry?
Do I
discern the faults and fail to see the fibres of strength and great promise in
people?
What do
I want most, life or God?
Do I
chafe, not understanding that conflict, contact, and change are necessary for
spiritual growth?
Have I
known joy and growth through the mastery of my dislikes and frictions?
Can I
receive an affront of smarting rebuke in silence?
Do I
realize that I gain the strength of the temptation I resist?
Am I
more concerned with putting across my own holiness or the power of God?
Can I
stand in the light of First Corinthians 13 or do I have to shuffle?
Have I a
disposition that is never lustful, spiteful or evil?
Where do
I find my reality, in God or in people?
Does my
intercession take hold until my friend’s soul gets into contact with the life
of God?
Is my
will bowed in sad submission, or lifted up in glad humility within the will of
God?
Do my friends call me stubborn while I think myself determined?
Is my idea
of the Church that of a witness for Christ, or of a
group who hold the same opinions and prejudices?
Am I
aware that self can raise up within myself a host of
competitors with “calls” that seem as good as God’s still small
voice?
Am I
seeking tags of honour and office?
Has my
bitter trial left me face to face with God, not with myself?
Am I one
man in a thousand who is able to maintain my spiritual life in a controversy?
Am I
ready to have God stamp out of me my personal ambitions?
Do I
have a sympathetic capacity of understanding people’s hearts?
Am I so
bound up that I refuse to yield to the power of love?
Have I
allowed the sense of failure to corrupt my next step for God?
Do I
have attachments that could not stand the scrutiny of God?
Am I making
life hard for anybody?
‑The
Gospel Herald.