21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,23and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
But, in order to put off the old, we have to identify which sinful elements are operating in our lives - and the work of the Scriptures and the Spirit can help us as we make those determinations and in making the necessary corrections. Paul outlines lying, anger, stealing, corrupt words and more in the subsequent verses in Ephesians chapter 4. So, we can not only identify where we fall short, but we can also confess our sins, receive forgiveness from Jesus, and rely on His strength to go in the other direction - He has given to us the overcoming power of God!
In 2nd Corinthians 13, we see a passage of Scripture that can encourage us to be engaged in the process of self-evaluation:
4For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.5Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified.6But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.
Dallas Willard is quoted as saying that, "People forget 99% of what we say but never the kind of person we are. What matters most is the kind of person we are becoming, the quality of character we are forming."
That is a quote from the Facebook page of a new app called SoulPulse, which not only provides survey data, but could potentially be a tool for spiritual growth - and yes, it is continuing to recruit partcipants.
Here's the backstory from ReligionNews.com:
Twice a day for two weeks, participants receive questions asking about their experiences of spirituality, their emotions, activities and more at the moment the text messages arrive.
Were they feeling satisfied, loved, happy, hostile, sleepy or stressed? Were they more or less aware of God when they were commuting or computing or hanging out with family and friends?
The participants so far are too few and too similar to draw national trend data; they’re chiefly highly educated evangelicals who know Wright or Ortberg, but the team is aiming to have 10,000 people enroll at SoulPulse.org over the next three years. Their answers will be aggregated to look for overall trends.
Orterg said that he is seeking answers to questions like, “Why do people change or not change? Why is change so hard? What do you need to know about yourself to become your best self? These seem like gaping holes in our knowledge.”
Ortberg said there are numerous studies on how to assess quantitative data about health, fitness, even happiness. But the same degree of scrutiny hasn’t been applied to spirituality.
“Your soul matters more than your body. So the ability to monitor your inner, deepest self, your emotional and spiritual well-being, with real-time, realistic information is very valuable,” Ortberg said.
SoulPulse participants will receive an individual report, reflecting their different temperaments and temptations. Ortberg said his personalized report has already changed his life.
“I discovered I was more tired than I knew that I was. I have begun going to bed earlier and I was tested for sleep apnea. I also realized, as an introvert, I’m more aware of God if I have a bigger chunk of quiet time. I started scheduling more time to be alone with God so when I am with people I can really be with them.”
The news about this app reminded me of a conversation I had a few months ago with Arnie Cole of Back to the Bible and its Center for Bible Engagement, which offers app called goTandem, which was designed by the Center to help encourage people in their daily walk with Christ. According to a piece on ChristianNewsService.com, with goTandem, users receive customized scripture content throughout the day that speak directly to their spiritual needs.
Dr. Cole is quoted as saying, “What we try to do is to send scripture through App messages to people throughout their day that help them deal with their struggles and grow spiritually...So, if a young person is struggling with pornography, worry or anxiety the app will send out short biblically-based messages that relate to that topic.” My understanding is that the customization of the app is dependent on your own knowledge of how and when you are most tempted, and can provide a Biblical antidote in those given moments. According to a follow-up study, “one-third of men improved in their ability to resist the temptation of pornography."
Dr. Cole is quoted as saying, “What we try to do is to send scripture through App messages to people throughout their day that help them deal with their struggles and grow spiritually...So, if a young person is struggling with pornography, worry or anxiety the app will send out short biblically-based messages that relate to that topic.” My understanding is that the customization of the app is dependent on your own knowledge of how and when you are most tempted, and can provide a Biblical antidote in those given moments. According to a follow-up study, “one-third of men improved in their ability to resist the temptation of pornography."
Spiritual evaluation is a powerful tool for spiritual growth. These 2 apps can serve to remind us of the importance of spiritual sensitivity and an awareness of God each day. And, you don't necessarily need an app to evaluate your life, but I believe it is pleasing to God and can help facilitate growth if are in a process of tending to your soul or monitoring your spirit.
The process of spiritual monitoring can be carried out in a variety of ways. First of all, we can train ourselves to be more aware of the presence of God. As believers in Christ, we recognize that God is with us, that He will never leave us or forsake us, and that we can connect to Him on a daily basis. Just making a concerted effort to think on God and meditate on His truth can be a powerful tool to making that spiritual connection.
In addition to being aware of God, we can also identify those barriers to experiencing the presence of God. Are there activities in which we are involved that are detrimental to our spiritual walk? Do our daily activities clutter our minds to the point where we do not open ourselves to the dealings and direction of the Spirit of Almighty God?
One of those identifiable areas that block the flow of God's Spirit is sin. Do we have unconfessed sin in our lives? Can we identify instances or patterns of sinful behavior that are choking our spiritual growth? As goTandem reminds us, we can also identify those moments of self-actualization of temptation - how and when are we most tempted? Are there situations that we need to avoid so that we do not become tempted to engage in sinful behavior? We know that we have Someone who is with us when we are tempted who will not abandon us, but will provide the way of escape in those times when we are being lured to sin.
Our awareness of what is going on in our souls can help us build awareness in God's presence and in His availability to strengthen us to live the abundant life.
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