Practicing Wesley's Self-Examination
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
I’ve learned over many years that the Christian life is a pilgrimage existence meaning, we’re always moving forward or as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we move from glory to glory – but it’s not our glory we’re leapfrogging along on, it’s God’s, and the destination of our pilgrimage is not simply one day feeling we have satisfied a sequence of requirements so we may call ourselves “good Christians,” but
it is union with the living God, himself. Union with Christ is the fruit of a life that prioritizes all things that would bring us closer to Christ. To that end, and for the discipline of actively practicing humility, I offer John Wesley’s 22 questions of self-examination:
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. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not like other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?