Spiritual Inventory: What's Weighing You Down?

Every responsible person knows the importance of taking inventory. A business counts its inventory. A mechanic inspects a vehicle. A pilot walks around the airplane before takeoff. A farmer checks his equipment before harvest. A doctor orders tests before prescribing treatment. All of us took inventory to make sure that we didn’t forget anything for this trip.

Why? Because it’s important to make sure that you have everything you need or there’s going to be problems, and problems ignored become disasters.

Yet many of us never stop to take inventory of our spiritual lives. We examine our finances. We examine our careers. We examine our grades. We examine our health. But when was the last time we asked God to examine our hearts?

David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting”.

That is one of the most dangerous—and most freeing—prayers a person can pray. The greatest obstacle to spiritual growth isn't always what is happening around us. Often it's what is happening inside us. Many believers love Jesus. Many attend church. Many serve faithfully. Yet they are spiritually exhausted because they are carrying around sin they have not confessed. God never intended His children to drag chains behind them. Jesus came to set captives free. So we are going to be taking a spiritual inventory tonight.

I. Hidden Sin Always Becomes Heavy

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)

Notice the difference. There are weights, and there is sin. Sometimes sin becomes both. At first sin feels exciting. Then it becomes acceptable. Then it becomes habitual. Then it becomes heavy, and eventually it owns us.

Imagine hiking through the mountains. You begin with a backpack weighing twenty pounds. Every mile someone secretly adds another brick. You don't notice immediately. But after hours… Your shoulders ache. Your back hurts. Your pace slows. Eventually you're exhausted. That's exactly what unconfessed sin does. Nobody else may notice. But you know, God knows. And the weight keeps increasing.

Some people today are carrying: bitterness, pornography, pride, greed, gossip, jealousy, anger, lust, unforgiveness, secret addictions, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and more. The problem isn't simply committing sin. The problem is carrying it. Many of us tonight are trying to run the race of faith while dragging unconfessed sin.

II. Unconfessed Sin Robs Us of Joy

3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. (Psalm 32:3-4)

David knew this personally. This was before confessing his sin with Bathsheba. Notice he doesn't say, "My enemies destroyed me." He says, "My silence destroyed me." Many believers blame everyone else for their lack of joy. "My church..." "My family..." "My job..." "My circumstances..." Sometimes the greatest thief of joy isn't outside us. It's inside us.

David describes: emotional exhaustion, spiritual dryness, and physical misery, why? Because sin affects the whole person. God designed us to walk in fellowship with Him. When fellowship is broken, everything else suffers. Satan whispers to us, "Hide it." but God says, "Bring it into the light."

Imagine breaking your arm. Instead of going to the doctor, you hide it under your jacket. You smile. Pretend everything is fine, but eventually it would get infected then it would spread and just continue to get worse each day. What would have been setting the bone and putting a cast on is now surgery, medications, and rehab. Ignoring the injury never heals it, and ignoring sin never heals it either.

III. God Already Knows—Confession Is Agreeing With Him (Psalm 139)

David didn't ask God to discover something He didn't know. God already knew. David was asking God to reveal it to him. Often times we ask God “to bless us”, but what we don’t ask is “what is keeping us from God’s blessing."

Taking spiritual inventory requires honesty. Asking questions like: Have I forgiven everyone? Am I walking in purity? Am I honoring God with my relationships? Am I telling the truth? Have I become prideful? Am I living differently on Monday than I do on Sunday? Am I harboring bitterness? Am I neglecting God's Word? Am I more passionate about entertainment than Jesus? Am I living in secret sin? God never reveals sin to shame His children. He reveals it to heal His children.

So this is what we are going to do here tonight. We are going to give it all to Jesus! He took all of our sins to the cross so that we don’t have to drag them around, weighing us down, reminding us of our failures. We are going to nail them to the cross tonight! I would like everyone in just a minute to get up and spread out around the sanctuary and I’m going to give you a piece of paper and i want you to open this up and privately look over this and mark where you need to. We are not having any discussions no one needs to be looking around. This is a time for you to be honest with yourselves and with God. Once your done I want you to fold your paper up and go and nail it on the cross. then just go back and sit down and quietly pray and wait for me.