Let me begin by defining what a “Faith Checkup” is. A Faith Checkup is a periodic review of key areas of your life such as your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, your relationships with your family and others, and your faithfulness to him in your everyday life. This regular review can encourage you to greater faithfulness — provided you do it with confidence in the Lord’s merciful love and not fearfully, in expectation of his wrath and condemnation. One practical way to do this “Faith Checkup” is to examine various areas of your life by asking yourself some basic questions about each of them. Listed below are some questions to allow you to do this.
A Faith Checkup, like an examination of conscience, is normally done on an individual basis. In this article, I’d like to suggest some ways to perform a Faith Checkup as part of a men’s group as well.
1. After a few minutes of prayer together, have each man take about 20 minutes to perform a Faith Checkup using the questions below. Write down your responses to the questions. As appropriate, share the results with the other men in your group.
2. Have each man in your group do a Faith Checkup between now and your next faith group meeting. At the next meeting, also share some of your findings.
3. I would recommend doing #1 followed by #2.
4. Be willing to have the other men pray for specific areas from your faith checkup that you may be struggling with. God works wonders when men pray together for one another.
Do the following:
Examine your relationships with family and friends
Ask yourself:
• Have I had any unsettling conversations that caused me to become resentful or to break with anyone?
• Did someone make hurtful remarks that I need to forgive or address?
• Should I repent of anything I said to someone?
• Is there wisdom I need that will help me resolve certain issues or to bring healing into a relationship?
• Have I brought these situations to the Lord and, where necessary, asked him to forgive me.
• Have I taken responsibility for any division I have caused through gossip, criticism, or negative humor?
• Have I asked for wisdom and healing for situations where I don’t know how to proceed?
Examine your relationship with the Lord
Ask yourself:
• Do I pray and do I consider it sufficient in light of the challenges in my life?
• Do I turn my heart to God and talk to him throughout the day? Am I honest with him?
• Is there something God is inviting me to surrender to him more deeply?
• Am I growing in awareness of my need for God’s mercy? Am I willing to receive it?
• Am I willing to humble myself and tell the Lord that I need a greater sense of his presence and his love when I pray and during my day.
Examine how you live out your day and your responsibilities
Ask yourself:
• Do I aim to be a faithful servant as I carry out the work God has entrusted to me?
• Do I see the Lord in the people I encounter every day?
• Do my actions convey God’s love and warmth to others?
• Do I talk with the Lord about my plans and work?
• Do I look ahead to specific situations I expect to encounter and ask the Lord to be with me?
(Maurice Blumberg is Executive Director of the National Fellowship of Catholic Men. This article is part of NFCM’s sponsorship of the Catholic Man channel. Contact NFCM at P.O. Box 86381, Gaithersburg, MD 20886 or e-mail them at info@nfcmusa.org. Many thanks to The Word Among Us for allowing us to adapt some material from their monthly devotional magazine.)
