Your Spiritual Barometer

W hen I was a young boy, a strange apparatus hung on the wall of our family den. I knew it wasn’t a clock, though it resembled one. Its dials looked complicated and important. We weren’t allowed to touch it.

“It’s called a barometer,” I was told by a grown-up. Must be true. And years later I discovered from another grown-up—a teacher—that a barometer is a scientific instrument used to measure pressure in the air. This measurement of atmospheric pressure serves to predict short-term weather.

That’s why the dial on our family barometer displayed the words: stormy, rain, change, fair, and very dry—from bad weather to good weather and everything in between. Rising barometric pressure means we’re headed toward clear and sunny skies. Falling barometric pressure means rain is likely to fall too (at least that’s the easy way for me to remember the difference).

I’m wondering if it’s possible to construct a spiritual barometer, a way to measure the climate of our connection with God—climate influenced by the rising and falling pressures in life. The standard list of important Christian activities includes Bible study, prayer, sharing your faith, and fellowship with other Christians. These activities are necessary for connection with God and growth toward maturity. But as a list, I don’t find them particularly helpful in evaluating how I’m really doing.

Instead, I’m more likely to ask probing questions of myself—questions that help expose my heart and nudge me to honestly evaluate the condition of my soul.

The following questions, and many others not listed, form the internal mechanism of my spiritual barometer. I’ll ask myself:

• When is the last time I talked to God without asking Him for anything? 
• How easily do I laugh? 
• What helps me experience peace about the future? 
• Do I quickly become impatient? 
• Am I practicing what I already know is true? 
• Is there even a whiff in me of stubborn independence and rebellion against God? 
• Am I able to summarize what God has been teaching me the last few weeks? 
• When is the last time I did something without concern for getting the credit? 
• Is the fruit of the Spirit being produced in my life? 
• Do I begin and end every day with God in my thoughts?

This spiritual barometer of the heart helps me assess how I will fare in the storms of life or with a pleasant breeze on my face or in the blistering heat of adversity.