WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DECEMBER 22, 2025
TOPIC: SPIRITUAL CHECK-UP
BY T. O. BANSO
“Examine 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” (2 Corinthians 13:5 New King James Version).
If you have not been doing a spiritual check-up of yourself, it’s time to do so. Many people have suffered from untimely death because they neglect their physical health. A comprehensive medical check-up in the hospital could have saved them. Some of them had money to undergo medical examinations, but they were negligent. Some of them procrastinated as they were busy with other concerns, including their businesses. They had no time for an exercise that could have helped them stay alive.
Similarly, many people engage in spiritual neglect. They don’t check their spiritual health. Do you do regular spiritual self-examination? Do you regularly engage in spiritual check-ups to be sure your life is right with God?
2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine 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” (New King James Version).
During routine medical check-ups, some have been diagnosed with certain diseases, and early detection saved them. Unfortunately, in some cases, life-threatening diseases were detected too late for a medical solution. In both circumstances, some of the people involved might not have been aware that they had any disease. But medical check-ups revealed the true state of their health.
Spiritual check-ups will help you to know the state of your spiritual health and save you from untimely spiritual death. Many people are spiritually sick, but they don’t know it. Some are full of spiritual activities, but they might have unknowingly backslidden.
Backsliding is a thing of the heart. Some pastors might have backslidden, but they could still be preaching. Likewise, some church workers and other Christians might have backslidden, but might not miss church programmes! They could be very active in the church, but they are backsliders. Anyone can backslide. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says that if you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin that others have fallen into.
Non-believers don’t backslide because they have never been saved. It’s a Christian who can backslide. Indeed, the term “backsliding” is not found in the New Testament, but we can learn from the Old Testament what the Bible says about it regarding the Israelites. For example, Jeremiah 14:7 says, “O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You” (New King James Version).
We can say that a backslider is a Christian who is sinning either privately or publicly. He is a Christian committing a sin that causes him or her to cease being a vibrant Christian and become lukewarm. Does that describe your condition? Do a spiritual check-up.
Examine your heart today because backsliding is a thing of the heart. In most cases, others see the outward manifestations of a backslider only later. Backsliding takes place in the heart first. “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above” (Proverbs 14:14 New King James Version).
Physical signs of backsliding in a backslider become evident after the person has backslidden in the heart. We find this example in King Solomon. “So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice” (1 Kings 11:9 New King James Version).
Solomon disobeyed God because his heart had turned from the LORD, which the LORD had warned the Israelites against. “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods” (1 Kings 11:2b New King James Version). Solomon fell in love with the foreign women. Thus, his heart turned away from the LORD to foreign gods,
Have you backslidden by turning away or turning back from the Lord? Has your love for God waxed cold? If this is true, you have backslidden, and you need to repent and return to the Lord. The Ephesian church was guilty of leaving her first love, and the Lord told her, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:5 New King James Version).
Have you stopped running the Christian race but have joined the world in their rat race? Maybe you stopped being a steward or worker in the church. You have backslidden. “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:62 New King James Version). Repent and return to the Lord.
Have you returned to your old sin? Returning to your vomit is a manifestation of spiritual sickness. This is backsliding. “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11 New King James Version). The Bible calls Christians the salt of the earth, but do you still retain your flavour? “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13 New King James Version). Also, the Bible says that Christians are the light of the world (verse 14). But is your light shining, or are you full of darkness? Repent and return to the Lord.
Do a spiritual check-up today? Identify the sin in your life. It could be spiritual pride. In other words, you are focusing on your works and not the works of Christ on the cross that saved you.
Your sin could be a lack of hunger for the Word of God. You could go for days without private reading or studying the Word of God and still feel comfortable about it. This is backsliding.
Have seemingly harmless worldly pleasures such as games and sports, recreational activities, favourite TV programmes, and the like become more important to you than prayer, Bible study, and other spiritual activities? Do you justify your sin, or do you feel guilty when you sin? Do you tolerate sin in fellow believers? A Christian should love sinners, including sinning Christians, but hate sin. Do the desires of your sinful nature control you? Do you manifest in your life the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:19-23). These are signs of spiritual illness. They’re signs of backsliding.
Are you obsessed with money, worldly possessions, fashion, etc.? This is worldliness and a sign of spiritual illness (1 Timothy 6:10; Ecclesiastes 5:10; Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; Matthew 16:26; 1 John 2:15-17). You have backslidden, and you must repent and return to the Lord.
Probably you are living a hypocritical life or a double life. You’re spiritually sick. Examine yourself today. Do a spiritual check-up. And maybe you already know what is wrong with you. Confess and forsake it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10 New King James Version).
Those who are God’s children do not continue sinning, because the new life from God remains in them; they are not able to go on sinning, because they have become children of God (1 John 3:9). God said about Israel, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him” (Hosea 14:4 New King James Version).
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you must give your heart to Jesus now. Please take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself, and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your heart. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church. There, they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner, and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me, and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I invite Jesus into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You must join a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Father, I repent of my sins today and return to You. Father, heal my backsliding. Holy Spirit, help me to manifest the fruit of the Spirit in my life and not the works of the flesh. Uphold me in the faith and let me not fall. Holy Spirit, touch the heart of every backslider so that they will confess and forsake their sins, and return to the Lord.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
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