Inventory of your life

When I worked at Lifeway Christian Bookstore we did inventory once a year, after hours so everybody got paid extra, and it took hours and everyone had to be there to do it, even people who didn’t work there. At Starbucks there’s a small inventory done each week during regular hours, and a larger one each month. Although it’s not fun for the manager and shift leaders to do that so often, it also keeps everything on track and prevents from longer ones.
Our lives are like that.

How often do we take inventory of our own lives? If we let it go too long, it ends up hard to correct. So I would like to challenge you to take inventory of your life more often, as I am going to try to do as well. It doesn’t have to be a specific day each month or a set schedule, but the more often you do this, the more often you can realign to what you’re looking for instead of waiting until you are very far off of where you should be.

Coming at this from a Christian point of view, these questions will be based on what a life following Christ would look like. So here are some questions I will be asking myself, and hopefully you will ask yourself too. While my list is long, there may be questions you can skip through quickly with a check mark, where others you have a harder time with.



- How are you doing with your free time? Are you wasting it or using it wisely?

-Are you serving?

-How often do you pray? And how deep?

-Are you listening for God or just talking the whole time?

-How are your quiet times?

-What gets you most excited? What gets you most upset? Is there a chance that the answer to those things could be competing with God? (Saw those questions in the book, “Not A Fan,” by Kyle Idleman)

-Are you too busy? What can you do to slow down a bit?

-How are your thoughts? Are they often negative, mean, lustful, jealous, selfish, etc? And what consumes a lot of your thoughts? Does it match up with Philippians 4:8 (Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praise worthy…think about such things.)

-Even in times in your life when you’re not where you want to be or when you’re in a frustrating situation, God can still use you. Have you asked Him to do that? Are you trying to do that? What does that look like?

-Where do you want to be a year from now in my job/relationships/financially? What can you do today to start that process?

-How are you spending your money? Are you tithing? Are you saving? What are you paying too much for on something you don’t really need?

-How much stuff do you have? Can you donate or give away anything to Wellspring / organizations that help others in need, yard sales for those going on mission trips, or homeless shelters?

-What’s coming out of your mouth? Are you gossiping and tearing others down or building others up? Do you constantly complain or find ways to be thankful no matter what?

-Is there anyone you need to forgive?

-Is there any person that you put too high on a pedestal that is competing with God for your trust, satisfaction, contentment, or love?

-If God has said no to something you’ve asked for, are you still trying to work against that on your own and turn it into a yes? Are there things you just need to let go of?

-Are you praying for those who don’t know Him yet, or don’t follow Him?

-Are there any sins in your life that seem too big to handle or out of control? What can you do to help fix it? Who can you talk to about it?

-Are there people in your life you can be honest with and hold each other accountable? If not, find them.