Midweek Meditation: "John Wesley's Self Examination"

When asked about whether one desires to grow spiritually, you will almost always hear people wanting to say yes. The question is how? One way is via self-examination. The Methodist founder, John Wesley has given his followers a set of questions to aid their spiritual awareness. The following has been adopted from Howard Culbertson's webpage.

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? 
2. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence? 
3. Can I be trusted? 
4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits? 
5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying? 
6. Did the Bible live in me today? 
7. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day? 
8. Am I enjoying prayer? 
9. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith? 
10. Do I pray about the money I spend? 
11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time? 
12. Do I disobey God in anything? 
13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy? 
14. Am I defeated in any part of my life? 
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful? 
16. How do I spend my spare time? 
17. Am I proud? 
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican? 
19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it? 
20. Do I grumble or complain constantly? 
21. Is Christ real to me?

These questions may seem very basic, but they probe deep into our hearts.

conrade