In the eighteenth century, John Wesley and his brother Charles were part of a group of Christians at Christ College, Oxford who met together for prayer and accountability and who performed many regular charitable acts. This group was cynically dubbed the “Holy Club” by their detractors. The name stuck, and the members of the club asked themselves these questions at the end of every day:
- Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
- Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
- Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
- Can I be trusted?
- Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
- Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
- Did the Bible live in me today?
- Do I give it time to speak to me every day?
- Am I enjoying prayer?
- When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
- Do I pray about the money I spend?
- Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
- Do I disobey God in anything?
- Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
- Am I defeated in any part of my life?
- Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
- How do I spend my spare time?
- Am I proud?
- Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
- Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
- Do I grumble or complain constantly?
- Is Christ real to me?
Most of us would be better off simply by printing out these questions and visiting them often, but I would like to actaully visit this list in future posts, fleshing out the implications of several (maybe more) of the question and perhaps even answering them myself. Feel free to make request, too; if I skip one you’d like me to tease out, ask away!
So, keep your eyes peeled here at PS.C and I’ll be back soon with my first Questions Worth Asking post.
Shared @ Works for Me Wednesday.
I’ve never thought about some of those…thanks for the thought-provoking post!
You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by. I admit that I don’t think about most of them nearly enough, which is why I’m forcing myself to wrestle with several of them in this series. Hopefully many will be encouraged by it.
Good list and looking forward to the upcoming series.
Thanks. I can’t take credit for the list, but I am looking forward some of the series, as well.