In Luke 9:11we read of Jesus encountering a crowd of people, and we’re told, “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” This was typical of Jesus. He taught them God’s truth and then often He would heal or feed them. He was concerned primarily with their spiritual needs but cared deeply about their physical needs, too. The more we become like Jesus the more concerned we will be about the physical and spiritual needs of others.

In my pastoral experience I have observed that the longer a person is a Christian, the less evangelistic he tends to be. This is obviously not a mark of growth or Christ-likeness, but of spiritual stagnancy. We must consciously fight this tendency toward “evangelism erosion.”

How have you been demonstrating a concern for the physical and spiritual needs of others? Have you shown it through helping to provide for someone’s food, clothing, shelter, or health needs? Have you proven it through praying, giving, witnessing, or encouraging?

A sure sign of Christian growth is seeing needs you never saw before and beginning to meet them.

– This post is 5 of 10 excerpted from 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald Whitney