Taking Spiritual Inventory
Read Hosea 7
Every factory and store has to close down for a short time to take inventory, otherwise the management will not know the true condition of the firm. Christians need to take inventory too, and in this chapter Hosea asks his people to examine themselves.
- “A cake not turned” (v. 8). This raises the questions, How deep is my spiritual life? Am I a “half-baked” Christian? Does the fire of the Word go deep into my life, or is my Christian life a shallow, surface thing?
- The “gray hairs” (v. 9). Gray hairs are usually a sign of old age and declining powers. The people were getting old and weak and did not realize it! Like Samson, they tried to use strength that they no longer possessed (Judg 16:19-21). How strong is my spiritual life? Am I pretending to be spiritually vigorous when sin has robbed me of my power?
- The “silly dove” (v. 11). The prophet watched his people “flit” between Egypt and Assyria, first leaning on one, then on the other. How like some of God’s people today: one day they walk with the Lord, the next day they run to the world. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways,” says James 1:8. The silly dove that flits from one place to another soon finds herself without a refuge, and she is left alone. How serious is my devotion?
- The “deceitful bow” (v. 16). Who wants to fight with a crooked weapon that cannot be trusted? This prompts the question, How dependable is my Christian life? Can God depend on me? Can my church depend on me?
Here are four important questions about your Christian life: How deep is it? How strong? How serious? How dependable? The answers are important too!
(Copyright, Warren W. Wiersbe. First appeared in Thoughts for Men on the Move. May not be copied or reproduced without express written permission of the author.)
Dr. Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019) was an internationally known Bible teacher, author, and conference speaker. He graduated in 1953 from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. While attending seminary, he was ordained as pastor of Central Baptist Church in 1951 and served until 1957. From September 1957 to 1961, Wiersbe served as Director of The Literature Division for Youth for Christ International. From 1961 to 1971 he pastored Calvary Baptist Church of Covington, Kentucky south of Cincinnati, Ohio. His sermons were broadcast as the “Calvary Hour” on a local Cincinnati radio station. From 1971 to 1978, He served as the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago 1971 to 1978. While at Moody Church he continued in radio ministry. Between August 1979 and March 1982, he wrote bi-weekly for Christianity Today as “Eutychus X”, taught practical theology classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and wrote the course material and taught a Doctor of Ministry course at Trinity and Dallas Seminary. In 1980 he transitioned to Back to the Bible radio broadcasting network where he worked until 1990. Dr. Wiersbe became Writer in Residence at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. In his lifetime, Dr. Wiersbe wrote over 170 books—including the popular Be series, which has sold over four million copies. Dr. Wiersbe was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
