A What?
I need a spirical. You mean you don’t know what that is? A spirical is the spiritual version of a physical – hence, spiri – cal. The problem is that the last time I checked, my insurance policy doesn’t cover such a thing (unless it’s covered under psychiatric care).
Yes, I need a spirical, just like (well, almost like) the actual physical I received yesterday.
The Physical
Do I really need to go into a lot of detail about my physical? Some of it could be rather embarrassing, you know. Because even though I try to be as transparent as possible, there is such a thing as TMI (too much information). Nevertheless, let’s see what I can do.
My examiner for this round of embarrassment was a nice young woman (they keep getting younger) named Dr. Natalie McQueen. She was very professional, too, and never once laughed at how out of shape I am (which I appreciated). No, all she did was off-handedly mention that exercise and diet modification might help lower my triglycerides.
The typical physical includes much of the following…
- Blood work
- Checking one’s weight
- Checking blood pressure
- Listening to the heart, lungs, and bowels.
- Checking reflexes and looking for nerve issues
- Checking the eyes, ears, nose, and throat
- Getting undressed and putting on a scratchy gown that opens to the back (the rest I will leave to your imagination).
It was when I was on my way home, feeling violated, yet relieved my report was good, that I started thinking about how we Christians should have annual spiritual check-ups.
The Spirical
Who better to give a spirical than God? What, you want pastor or counselor doing that kind of thing? Are you crazy? They’re not the Doctors; they’re just the receptionists, the P.A.’s, and the nurses. If you want a REAL examination of your spiritual self, you need to go straight to the Specialist of Specialists and let Him get to work.
If you think I’m a little crazy with all this spirical talk, then you must also think poor Job and King David were off their rockers…
- Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. – Job 31:6
- Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:23-24
- Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. – Psalm 26:2
One reason people shy away from getting an annual physical is because they don’t want to hear any bad news. They live their lives with abandon, then expect the doctor to examine them and declare them healthy.
Could it be that we rarely hear of spiritual check-ups because so few of us want to be weighed, searched, tried, examined, and proven by the only One who can see through our excuses and bad habits?
Maybe we like being unhealthy.
The Recovering Legalist 