Search me, O God, and know my heart.
—Psalm 139:23
Bold white letters on a solid red background of the billboard screamed: “This year thousands of men will die from stubbornness.” In smaller print, it targeted men who neglected medical screenings and died from preventable conditions.
Two of my friends have died this year from metastasized cancer. The billboard wasn’t descriptive of them, for neither was stubborn; both were amiable and lovable. But, for whatever reasons, they skipped checkups that could have early detected and successfully treated the problem.
Don’t neglect your spiritual checkup: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5). A good place to start is to submit your blood work to the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22–23). If any of these are showing pre-disease symptoms, control them early.
Early treatment of spiritual disease
can be eternal-life-saving.