Early coal miners carried canaries into the deep pits with them as indicators of the presence of methane gas. The bird would die long before the gas posed a problem for the miners. If the bird died, they ran for their lives.

We could all use a few canaries in our spiritual lives, to warn us when we were on dangerous ground as well as to assure us when we were doing well.

Here are four harbingers–four canaries, four indicators–that inform the believer that he actually is growing in the Lord. 

1. We will grow increasingly disgusted with the old life we left behind, and less attracted by it.

Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

But now, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…. (Colossians 3:8-9).

2. We will be more and more Christlike but the last to know it.

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another…just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you (Colossians 3:12-13).

There’s a fascinating irony that goes on here. As you grow in the Lord, eventually someone will say that you are the most Christlike person they know. You will laugh at the very idea. No one knows better than you how far you still have to go.

Actually, they’re right. You are becoming more and more like Jesus. But you are the last to know. Why? The closer we get to the light, the more imperfections we see.

Late one night I was walking downtown past some stores. My reflection from the huge windows of stores now closed for the night looked pretty good, I thought.

At home, I stepped into the bathroom which was ablaze with lights. “Holy cow!” I thought. My hair was uncombed, I needed to shave, and I’d spilled food on my shirt. None of this could be seen in the half-light on the street.

I once said to an older lady in my church, “Marguerite, you are the most Christlike person, I know.”

She said, “Oh, honey. If you just knew.”

But I did know. I knew that we are not the judges of the Christlikeness emanating from us. Moses “did not know that his face was shining” after he had been on the mountaintop with El Shaddai Himself. (Exodus 34:29)

Others will see the holiness long before we will be able to detect it.

One other note from personal experience. The time you will know you were close to the Lord and enjoying a special nearness with Him is when you lose it. When you rebel against the Lord and find yourself down in the hog pen with other prodigals, you will look back to those former days and remember how good you had it (Luke 15:17).

3. We will love people more than we’ve ever loved them but love ourselves less.

…bearing with one another and forgiving each other…. Above all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Col. 3:13-15)

The night I came to Christ as an 11-year-old, I walked out of church–actually, floated would be more like it–hopelessly in love with everyone I saw.

Jesus taught all who would be His disciples that the mark they would wear, the badge to identify them as His, would be their love for one another (John 13:34-35).

My observation is that closeness to Christ manifests itself in three types of love:

a) We treasure the other followers of Jesus.

b) We devote ourselves to our family.

c) We long for everyone to know Jesus.

A man healed of a legion of demons expressed the desire to follow Jesus wherever He went. But the Lord would not allow it.

Go home to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how He has had compassion on you (Mark 5:19).

The final promise of the Old Testament is that when the Messiah comes, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). Don’t miss that: He would turn their hearts toward home.

Home is the first place to tell the difference when one falls into sin and the first to register it when he comes back to the Savior.

4. The more grateful we will be to the Lord and everyone else, and the less demanding we will act.

…and be thankful. (Col. 3:15)

…singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col. 3:16)

…giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Col. 3:17)

Get the idea? Gratitude is not an option, not the icing on the cake. Nor is it an adornment to an otherwise complete Christian life. Gratitude is one of the essentials. Standard equipment for the believer who would count for Christ in this world.

So, how are you doing?  How are you measuring up?

You will not want to sit around assessing yourself, worrying about your spiritual growth.  Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus and focus on serving Him and this will take care of itself.