When is the last time you had a check-up? We all know how important physical check-ups are to maintain our health and stay on top of any issues that might arise. Never the less we don't like to be poked and prodded by doctors. However, most of us do it because we know that the results could be disastrous if we don't and a health issue could sneak up on us. Do we give the same consideration to our spiritual health?

If we ignore our spiritual wellbeing, we are just as likely to let something unwholesome in our minds or our hearts. So, let's do a little check-up. How's your thinking? Have you noticed yourself being overly negative or critical lately? Are you buying into the lies of the enemy when he tells you that you are not good enough or strong enough to be what God has called you to be? Do you need a shot of faith? We can ask for that boost when we need it. We can ask God to help our unbelief, and he will do it just as he did for the distraught father in Mark 9:24.

Back to the check-up, maybe we need to remove non-productive things from our lives that keep us from running our best race. What are we dragging around that is holding us back. Maybe, it is a shame or worry or just too much of a load. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." This verse stresses that there are things that encumber us and then there are sins that entangle us. So, hindrances that keep us from running the race that God has set before us becomes sin.

Check-ups for sin are no more pleasant than physical check-ups.  Just asked David. Psalm 51 is a wonderful example of David submitting to God for a sin check-up. He asks God to cleanse him from the sins that he knows about. He says they are ever before him. David knew what he done and that the Great Physician was the only one that could remove his sin.

Let's follow David's example and let God remove the sin from our lives and restore us to spiritual health. We don't have to live as puny Christians we can be healthy, whole and restored to service.

“Search me, God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) (NIV)