Many people assume that because they believe in God, attend church, or try to live a decent life, their faith must be genuine. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus regularly challenged people who looked spiritually healthy on the outside while holding fatal blind spots under the surface. Considering them helps us evaluate the condition of our own faith.
1. Do you underestimate your sin?
One of the clearest examples is found in Mark 10:17-22. A wealthy young man runs up and kneels before Jesus, asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man appears respectful and sincere, so we’re expecting Jesus to quote John 3:16 and urge him to believe. But He doesn’t.
In fact, He answers with a question Himself: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” It feels like a rebuke. Jesus sees him using the word “good” flippantly and wants to make a point. He then quotes some commandments about not murdering, committing adultery, or stealing. This is the part of the test where the man feels most confident, answering, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
His answer reveals a great deal about his heart. Notice that he drops the word “good” and now simply calls Jesus “Teacher.” But even more importantly, he believes he has successfully kept God’s commands. He sees himself as morally qualified for eternal life.
And that’s precisely the problem.
The Bible teaches that no one is good enough to stand before God on the basis of their own righteousness. Before we can truly trust in Jesus, we must first recognize our need for mercy and forgiveness. Genuine faith begins with humility about our sin.
So the first diagnostic question is this: Do you ignore your sin by pointing to the good things you do?
2. Does your ultimate loyalty lie elsewhere?
Jesus doesn’t get mad or frustrated. In fact, the next verse says, “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” It’s clear that what Jesus says to the man is motivated by love rather than greed or cruelty. But surely this is too much! Is a vow of poverty the condition of eternal life? It can’t be, because this is the only person of whom Jesus made this demand. Why would Jesus say such a thing? And how was this loving?
The point was that hiding behind a veneer of morality and religion was a man whose real God was his bank account. Jesus could see that money was the thing that had his ultimate loyalty, and so he told him to give it away, so he could see that he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. Only then would he realize how much he needed saving.
What would Jesus have asked you to give away? Who or what would He identify as the thing that you’re treating like a god in your life? Is it your health? Your career? Your religion? A relationship?
That’s the second diagnostic question to bring to your faith: Does something other than Jesus have your ultimate loyalty?
3. Are you prepared to follow?
With someone who has been so diligent in trying to keep all the commands from a young age, you’d expect that this man would be eager to do what Jesus says. Instead, the exchange ends on a tragic note: “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Jesus has put His finger on the thing that controls the man’s life, and he retreats deflated, unwilling to address it. Although he’s worked hard to maintain a “good” reputation, Jesus wants him to see that not only is he not as good as he thinks, but he’s acting as his own god and worshipping his money.
The man’s response gives us our third diagnostic question: Are you willing to let Jesus set the agenda for change in your life?
We can all point to areas in our life and faith where we need to grow. But what do these diagnostic questions reveal about your faith?
Do you admit your sin and need for forgiveness?
Does God truly have your ultimate loyalty?
Are you willing to let Jesus direct the course of your life?
Making the right diagnosis is essential to getting better and, in the case of our faith, essential to the eternal life that Jesus came to make possible.
In awe of Him,
Paul
