Top 22 Questions to Ask Yourself as You Reflect on the Year

A long time ago, a group of college friends wanted to get serious about their faith. They wanted their journey with God to be about more than tradition, societal pressure, habit or culture. To this end, they decided to meet together each morning. They prayed together. Sang songs together. Read the Bible together. 

But they also decided to assess their lives before God and their fellow believers. They put together a list of questions that probed deep into their hearts and practical lives. They committed to asking these questions of themselves every day and strived to live up to the challenge of true faith they posed. 

Some wrote them off as religious zealots. Others mocked them. People began to call them names like the “holy club,” “Bible moths” or “enthusiasts.” But one name stuck: the “methodists,” for the rigorous habits these young college friends developed to grow in their faith. Core to their “method” was the following list of 22 questions that they asked daily of themselves:

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?

4. Can I be trusted?

5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?

6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying or self-justifying?

7. Did the Bible live in me today?

8. Do I give it time to speak to me every day?

9. Am I enjoying prayer?

10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?

11. Do I pray about the money I spend?

12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

13. Do I disobey God in anything?

14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

17. How do I spend my spare time?

18. Am I proud?

19. Do I thank God that I am not like other people, especially the Pharisees who despised the publican?

20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?

21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?

22. Is Christ real to me?

Hundreds of years have passed since John Wesley and his group of friends began building “methodist societies” like the one they started at their school. Yet, many of the 80 million people worldwide still claim the “Methodist” name and continue using these questions. But whether you are an official “Methodist” or not, you’ll find these questions an excellent tool to assess your spiritual health as 2022 approaches an end.