Skip to main content

New Article: A Spiritual Apgar Score

                 As recently as the 1950s, having a baby was a risky proposition.  One in thirty births ended badly until an anesthesiologist named Virginia Apgar developed a system to rate how newborns were doing.  She focused on five key areas (appearance, pulse, the reflex action or grimace, activity or muscle tone and respiration).  She encouraged doctors and nurses to rate each child on a scale of zero to three for each quality.  A score of 10 or more meant that the baby was healthy; 4 or lower indicated that the baby needed immediate intervention.

               While numerous other medical advances have occurred over the years, all agree that Apgar’s rating system had a huge impact.  Her scoring system is still used today, and the mortality rate has improved to one in every 500 births.  Virgina Apgar did not introduce anything new.  Her system simply helped the medical personnel assess what they were dealing with and see what was in front of them.

               I have often thought that it would be helpful for us to have a Spiritual Apgar Score.  Not a test.  Rather a reminder would help us see the blessings that promote spiritual health, strength and vitality.  Maybe this little verse would point us in the right direction.  Hebrews 3:1 says, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest”.  I like this verse because it underlines three gifts that we share.

               First, it describes us: We are holy brothers and sisters.  In other words, we are a family.  Second, it gives us a purpose and a goal for which to live: We have a heavenly calling.  Our life is about more than just here and now.  Third, it gives us something to do: set your thoughts on Jesus. 

               These blessings are not new, but they are important.  They can give us hope.  They can direct our thoughts and help our decision-making.  They can rearrange our priorities so that we are shaped like Christ.

               Success does not always come by discovering something new.  As Virginia Apgar demonstrated, sometimes we simply need to focus on what is right in front of us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Consider This: Who Needs Worship?

  Why does God need our worship? The events of Matthew 14 provide at least one answer.   This chapter starts with the beheading of John the Baptist (verses 1-12). This is the first in a series of events that indicate things are about to become much more difficult for the believers. Next, the scene shifts to a crowd gathered on a hillside in Galilee. After listening to Jesus teach all day, the apostles realized that these people had nothing to eat. They brought the problem to Jesus. He took a child’s lunch and fed the entire group of five thousand men plus women and children. Afterwards, they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers (verses 13-21).   Then Jesus told them to get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. As they went, a storm arose, and the apostles were scared. They struggled along until Jesus came to them walking on the water. Peter tried walking on the water too and sank. After Jesus rescued Peter, they got into the boat, and the storm immediately s...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Spiritual Makeover (1 Peter 1:13-16)

 Three responses to the new life God has given us.  https://youtu.be/FmqX5-3jOKc  
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: The Danger of Drifting

   Consider This: The Danger of Drifting Most people will not blow up their life in one big, messy moment. It can happen, and when it does, the damage is obvious and instantaneous. Like a car wreck at an intersection, people make a bad decision, and chaos ensues. Parts and pieces scatter all over. People get hurt. Situations like this are unexpected, loud, shocking and scary. Most of us will not wreck our lives in one big, terrible moment. The real danger is that we will lose what is valuable in small, almost imperceptible steps. It happens all the time. You can leave your marriage without ever leaving your house. You can leave your faith while still attending church. You can leave your life while you are still living it. Many people lose what they love, not by making one big, out-of-character decision, but by coasting, disengaging, neglecting and missing what matters. Almost every Biblical list of Christian characteristics mentions “Self-control”, yet I have not g...
Post a Comment
Read more