By: David S. Hogan, Editor-in-Chief
Let me mess with your head for a minute.
What if there were a system — an app, a dashboard, a little meter on your phone — that could predict the exact day you’re going to die?
Not vaguely.
Not “sometime in your 80s.”
I mean Tuesday. At 3:14 p.m.
Now let’s say it updates in real time.
You light a cigarette?
👉 Minus one day.
You go for a good workout?
👉 Plus a day.
You grab fries instead of a side salad?
👉 There goes a few hours.
Your kids annoy the absolute snot out of you…
…but you let it go instead of snapping?
👉 Half a day gained. Stress relieved.
You check the meter again before bed.
It moved.
Now here’s the uncomfortable truth:
None of that is new information.
We already know this stuff.
We know smoking kills us.
We know exercise helps.
We know stress wrecks us.
We know better sleep, better food, better habits add years.
And yet… we still push it off.
We treat death like a rumor instead of a receipt.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12
TThe Problem Isn’t Knowledge — It’s Distance
We don’t ignore reality because we’re stupid.
We ignore it because it feels far away.
Death is abstract.
Consequences are delayed.
The meter isn’t visible.
So we tell ourselves:
“I’ll start Monday.”
“I’m still young.”
“One more won’t hurt.”
“God understands.”
And yeah — He does.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
— James 4:8
But understanding isn’t the same thing as agreement.
Now Let’s Push This Somewhere Deeper
What if we could see a meter — not for our lifespan —
but for the health of our relationship with Jesus?
We’re talking about relationship — not whether we belong to Him or where we’ll spend eternity, because that’s already settled. This is about closeness. About how healthy that relationship is, how aligned our hearts are, and where our attention actually goes day to day.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 8:1
In the ordinary moments of life, that meter might move like this:
- We read the Word?
👉 Needle jumps up. - We pray honestly — not politely — honestly?
👉 Solid increase. - We go to church, even when we don’t feel like it?
👉 Consistent bump. - We tithe sacrificially?
👉 Small but steady rise. - We complain about the worship song because it’s not our style?
👉 Needle dips. - We’re scrolling our phones and somehow end up navigating to “a hub” instead of Scripture?
👉 Yeah… that’s a drop. A noticeable one. - We prioritize Him?
👉 Up. - We prioritize ourselves?
👉 Down.
This one’s worth saying carefully:
Even a beer can, at times, pull the needle back a bit.
Not because beer is evil — calm down —
but because whenever we numb instead of notice, distance grows.
“‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:23
Lets Be Honest — We’d Manage It Better
Let’s take an inward look today — and don’t worry, I’m not calling anyone on the carpet.
For this one, I’ll go first.
If that meter lived on my iPhone…
If it buzzed when it dropped…
If I could see it trending down…
I’d manage it.
I’d check it.
I’d try to optimize it.
I’d argue with it.
I’d probably look for a way to justify why it was wrong — or how to game it.
And here’s the part I can’t escape:
Nothing on that meter would be new information to me.
I already know:
- What draws me closer
- What pulls me away
- What feeds the flesh
- What feeds the Spirit
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
— Galatians 5:16
So why do I still choose distance?
I know — intellectually — what I should do. I can visualize the meter moving, and still choose to ignore it.
And if that’s true for me, I suspect it’s true for many of us.
We know what draws us closer. We know what pulls us away.
So why is it that we’ll let a Fitbit guide our steps, our sleep, and our habits —
but struggle to let the Word guide us the same way?
A Quiet Comparison Worth Sitting With
Both of those meters tell us something important.
One speaks to our physical lives — how long we may live, how well our bodies are holding up, how our habits shape our health over time.
The other speaks to our spiritual lives — not where we’ll end up, but how closely we’re walking with Jesus right now.
We’re comfortable paying attention to the physical one because it feels practical and safe.
Steps taken. Calories burned. Hours slept.
The spiritual one asks something different.
Not optimization, but surrender.
Not awareness, but obedience.
Both respond to daily choices.
Both move whether we watch them or not.
The difference isn’t that one is real and the other isn’t.
It’s that one tells us how we’re doing…
and the other tells us who we’re becoming.
The Real Enemy Isn’t Ignorance
This isn’t really about a lack of knowledge.
Some of it is neurochemistry.
Some of it is habit.
Some of it is simply human nature doing what it’s always done.
And yes — some of it is the enemy, quietly whispering things that sound reasonable enough:
“It’s not that bad.”
“You deserve this.”
“God will forgive you anyway.”
Each one contains a grain of truth.
And each one, left unchecked, slowly pulls us toward something deadly.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”
— Jeremiah 17:9
So no, we don’t really need a meter.
We want one because it would remove the fog —
because it would force us to be honest about what we already know.ld force honesty.
We Already Have the Meter — We Just Ignore It
The Word already tells us what we need to know.
It shows us what leads to life and what leads to death.
It makes clear what draws us closer to God and what slowly creates distance.
None of that is hidden.
None of it is especially complicated.
It’s just inconvenient.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
— Psalm 119:105
So we don’t really need another app.
We don’t need a dashboard.
We don’t need a number counting down in front of us.
What we need is obedience.
What we need is attention.
And maybe most of all, we need to stop pretending there’s such a thing as neutrality.
Conclusion: The Meter Isn’t Missing — We Are
If we could see the day we’d die, we’d live differently.
If we could see the health of our relationship with Jesus, we’d act differently.
But the truth is…
God already showed us both paths.
One leads to life.
One leads to distance.
The question isn’t whether the information exists.
The question is whether we’re willing to look.
A Closing Prayer
Lord,
Strip away the excuses we hide behind.
Quiet the noise we use to avoid You.
Teach us to number our days — and our choices.
Not so we live in fear,
but so we live in alignment with You.
Draw us closer, even when we resist.
Correct us, even when it stings.
And help us choose life — daily.
Amen.
Call to Action
This week, let’s stop asking “Is this allowed?”
and start asking “Does this bring us closer?”
Crack open the Word.
Put the phone down.
And check the meter God already gave us.
If this resonated and you want to keep chewing on it, there are a few other posts here on Adullam’s Edge that pick up the same threads.
And if this spoke to you, share it — someone else probably needs the reminder too.
Further Reflection
If you want to explore this further outside of Adullam’s Edge, a few voices have helped me think more clearly about attention, habit, and closeness with God — resources like The Bible Project (https://bibleproject.com), John Mark Comer’s work on hurry and distraction (https://johnmarkcomer.com), and writers like Dallas Willard (https://dwillard.org) and Tim Keller (https://www.gospelinlife.com), who all point back to the same truth: formation is about becoming, not just knowing.
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