It’s been a few trips around the sun since I’ve opened the small bottle and pulled out the litmus test strip to see if a chemical compound is acidic or basic or to make sure the pH of the pool is A-OK for a swim. Maybe it was just me, but I remember back in middle school when we first started learning about acids & bases and being filled with a sense of wonder if the strip would turn acidic red or basic blue.
While my days of chemistry have come to an end (partly in thanks Organic BioChem…), I’ve found that I’m still utilizing litmus tests in my daily walk with Jesus. Instead of the acid-base pH spectrum, I’ve instilled a new pH (let’s call it personal Holiness) spectrum rooted in a few passages of Scripture, with the spectrum ranging from the kingdom of self/world to the Kingdom of God.
personal Holiness spectrum
kingdom of self/world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (me) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kingdom of God
The first passage comes from the Old Testament and is first found when the LORD describes his character to Moses on Mount Sinai. (Side note: The Bible Project is beginning a great video series on this, here!) The passage reads:
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exod. 34:6, NRSV).
This is an oft repeated passage throughout the Old Testament, as God shares his heart and character to the Israelites and the nations. Used as a litmus test on the pH spectrum, I adapt it like this:
Joe, Joe, a Christ follower merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
I find it gives me a daily check to see if I’m living out the character and heart of God. Have I been merciful and gracious to my kids? Was I slow to anger at the driver who cut me off? Am I abounding in steadfast love as I post on social media?
The second passage comes from 1 Corinthians 13. Many of us are familiar with it, the love passage. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends (1 Cor. 13:4-8a, NRSV).
In premarital counseling & weddings, I use it as a charge to brides and grooms to insert their name where love is, as a check to see if they’re daily living out the love of Christ in their marriage. And so on the pH spectrum, it’d read like this:
Joe is patient; Joe is kind; Joe is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Joe does not insist on his own way; Joe is not irritable or resentful; Joe does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Joe bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Joe’s love never ends.
It’s a great personal check, and even as I type it out today, I find myself reflecting on if I was truly patient yesterday. Was I irritable at all? Was I boastful or selfish?
These are just a couple examples of litmus tests I’ve integrated into my daily walk with God as I strive to grow in Christlikeness. Feel free to add them to your own daily walk! A few other passages I reflect on in this manner are the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7); Galatians 5:22-26; Philippians 2:1-18; 4:4-9; and Colossians 3:12-17.
The Musings of a Humble Servant 