A New Year’s Spiritual Check-Up with John Newton
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- Updated Dec 13, 2023
When I battled COVID a couple of summers ago, I developed a somewhat unhealthy habit. At one of the lower points in my battle against this illness, I was concerned about my oxygen levels. Someone graciously gave me an oximeter so I could track my oxygen levels. I checked it too much. It created even more anxiety as my levels would dip slightly below the suggested number. It’s not good to always check your temperature or oxygen level. It is mentally unhealthy.
But it would also be unhealthy to never check important vitals. There is a reason why insurance companies encourage their clients to get yearly check-ups. It’s a good idea to check in on occasion to make sure everything in your body is functioning as it should be.
The same thing is true of our spiritual lives. It’s not good for us to always be checking our spiritual temperature. Yet, it is good for us to have occasional check-ins. One time that is particularly helpful for doing this is the New Year. This was a practice that many Christians of the past would engage in. Many, like John Newton, would use New Year’s Day and their own birthday as a time for rigorous assessment of their spiritual well-being.
One year, around the new year, Newton wrote a letter to a friend who had asked about the marks of spiritual decline. I’ve found Newton’s assessment to be helpful. Newton first noted three general causes of a decline in the spiritual life. First, is doctrinal error. Second, spiritual pride and self-complacence. When we begin to develop a good opinion of ourselves, we are ripe for a fall. Lastly, an inordinate desire and attachment to the things of the present world is a sign of spiritual decline.
But what are the symptoms of having one of these points of sickness? It is here that I find Newton incredibly helpful in checking our spiritual temperature. He noted three main symptoms for us to watch out for, which are a progression.
1. Becoming Lax in Duties
When we are sick, we tend to shirk many of our duties. When we are sick, the normal things of life are usually thrown off kilter. We lose our appetite, become dull in our senses, and are often inactive and restless.
The same thing happens when we are spiritually sick. We no longer pray as we once did, do not read our Bible, and often neglect to meet with other believers. Speaking of these disciplines, which are necessary for our health, Newton says, “are either gradually neglected and given up, or the attendance upon them dwindles to a mere formal round, without relish and without benefit” (Works of Newton, Volume 6, p. 411).
How are you doing in spiritual disciplines? Are they dull? Formal? Non-existent? Or are they lively? How is your prayer life? What is it like when attending service? Is your church attendance waning? Are you finding yourself moving away from the things of God and pursuing other interests with more vigor? This might be a sign of spiritual unhealth.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Ralf Geithe
2. No longer satisfied with the simple gospel
Secondly, you’re no longer satisfied with those simple truths like we read earlier. They no longer excite us. I’ll modernize the words of Newton a bit:
To the healthy man, plain food is savory—but the [taste buds], when [spoiled] by sickness, becomes picky and [choosy], and hankers after [diverse foods] and [luxurious food]. Likewise, when the sincere milk of the gospel, plain truth delivered in plain words, is no longer pleasing—but a person requires curious speculations, or the frothy eloquence of man's wisdom, to engage his attention, it is a bad sign. For these are suited to nourish, not the constitution—but the disease. (p. 412)
In other words, the gospel no longer satisfies. So, the one infected with this sickness spends their time trying to get excited about other “deeper doctrines.” He is no longer satisfied with the simple truth that Christ is returning. He wants to know when and in what manner. We give ourselves to rapture charts and trying to discern the Bible with a newspaper.
We’re no longer satisfied with the simple truth that God saves sinners, and this is the gospel. We want to know the ins and outs of this or that. We argue about the relationship between sovereignty and human responsibility and spend our time trying to figure out these things. And we do this because we are no longer satisfied with the simple gospel. We want more. We want a study on this unique doctrine. We want a study on that particular topic.
Do you hear the simple gospel of Jesus Christ and go “meh” in your heart? Are you wishing there was something more? Something deeper? Something more precious? Something flashier? Something catchier? Oh, this is a great sickness? Would you rather go to a sermon series on unlocking the end times from the book of Revelation, or would you rather go to a sermon series on the good news of Jesus? Oh, what a terrible sickness we have when we become bored with the gospel.
And when this boredom with the gospel sets in, we see our third symptom crop up.
3. We become critical and mocking of the dedication of others
When we are no longer satisfied with simple Bible reading and prayer and the gospel, we tend to become more worldly to try to fill ourselves up. As Newton says,
From slighting or trifling with those means that God has provided to satisfy the soul—the next step usually is—to seek relief from compliance with the spirit, customs, and amusements of the world. And these compliances, when once allowed, will soon be defended; and those who cannot approve or imitate such conformity will be represented as under the influence of a narrow, legal, or pharisaic spirit. (p. 412)
Newton is saying that we tend to move away from tried-and-true spiritual disciplines and become more worldly. When we find that others are not joining us in this quest, we mark them off as being legalistic Pharisees. We think that we have moved on to maturity, but in reality, we’ve become sickly. Newton goes on to say:
This [spiritually] sick [person] is in a delirium, which prevents him from feeling his disease—and he rather supposes the alteration in his conduct is owing to an increase of wisdom, light, and liberty. He considers the time when he was more strict and circumspect as a time of ignorance, will smile at the recollection of what he now deems his childish scruples, and congratulates himself that he has happily outgrown them, and now finds that the services of God and the world are not so incompatible as he once thought them to be. (p. 412)
Such one has become worldly yet considers it progress and advancement. He turns his nose at Christians who are still devoted to these ordinary means of grace.
If we read through a list like this and find ourselves looking at others, there is a good chance that we’ve already fallen prey to a sickness that will lead to spiritual decline. Am I truly progressing in the faith? If I am, then my love and grace and compassion for others will likely increase as well.
I will find that I’m often harsher with my own sin and more gracious with the shortcomings and sins of others. That is a mark of spiritual growth. But as Newton says, we often get this backward. We tend to believe that when we have more fodder for our cannons that we can fire against others, we must have matured greatly. Yet, it’s likely the opposite.
It’s helpful to ask a few probing questions.
- Am I bored with the gospel?
- Am I dull in my discipline?
- Am I focusing more on others than my own walk with Christ?
If so, then the answer is to remind our hearts of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as those bitten by a snake in the wilderness looked up to live, so today, if we are bitten by spiritual decline, we must look to the Savior for healing. Only in the gospel will we find freedom from this sickness.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Seb_ra
