Let me explain briefly. When I say "dying," it means you have no more joy, you are miserable, and you are like an unbeliever again. "Surviving" is when you just force yourself to do something, but you are no longer happy. "Struggling" means you are confused, bewildered, and lukewarm; you cannot assess whether you are hot or cold. "Growing" means you now have joy and peace in this life and you are following the Lord. And "abounding" means you are already bearing fruit—fruitfulness. So, take a pen and paper and list these five levels just as I have written them. Then, I will list the six areas for our self-evaluation.
The first area is our Communion with God. How is your relationship with God? Where does it fall on this scale?
Second, Human Relationships. To make it simple, let's just focus on your family for now. Is your relationship with them growing, or are you just surviving, merely tolerating them because you have no other choice?
Third, Love for the Brethren. Are you just putting up with the person next to you because they are a fellow church member? Do you find yourself thinking, “I’ll just endure him. Why was he the one saved and not someone else?” Is that how we feel about one another?
Fourth, the Work of the Ministry. At what stage are we? Are we dying, surviving, struggling, or growing? These are just levels I created for us to visualize where we are. Perhaps we do not see it. The Bible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” You might think you are okay, but when we see ourselves in light of God’s Word, we might find that we are not okay at all. We may desperately need the oxygen that comes from the Word of God; we need to be revived.
Fifth, Holiness and Godliness. How is our application of holiness and godliness? Perhaps we are only surviving. Perhaps for us, holiness and godliness are just for Sunday, or only when there is a ministry activity, or only when we are in church.
And lastly, our Knowledge of the Scriptures. How are we doing? We might be alive and well when it comes to gossip, but when it comes to the words of God, we know nothing. So let us assess ourselves. Are we enjoying the Christian life, or are we like someone about to fall off a cliff, hanging on with just one hand, about to perish?
God does not want us to struggle or be stagnant in our Christian growth. The Lord wants us to be abounding in His work; He wants us to be fruitful in our Christian walk. One of the reasons we are not growing—why we cannot get past this line from dying, surviving, and struggling to growing and abounding—is that the Christian life is not meant to be lived with a heart that is only halfway given to the Lord. It is not designed for us to live by giving only a part of ourselves to God. It cannot be half. It cannot be 98 percent, leaving 2 percent for yourself. That 2 percent is an idol in your life; it is called an idol in my heart. And as long as there is an idol in our hearts and lives, God cannot move properly. If there is an idol working in me that replaces my God, it affects everything.