What about spiritual health?

~ sparedbygrace@yahoo.com

 

3 John 4: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” ESV.

My friend continued: “Then one more step: What about spiritual health? The lagging of graciousness, the fighting with doubt, and on and on the list goes? Brother, I suppose I’m writing this out of a need to articulate it more than out of a need for your wisdom, though that would be much appreciated too. I know all or a good many of the responses to my questions: it’s a fallen world so we will experience fallenness in all these areas, the Good Lord is upping our desire for His perfect kingdom, etc. “.

I am not inclined go believe that spiritual health equates to psychological or mental health. I believe that have psychological disturbance might just foster spiritual health in ways that nothing else does. Consider some of the examples of biblical characters. Hannah ached for a child. Job suffered the loss of most everything he had. Daniel was removed from his country and may have been made a eunuch. Hosea was instructed to marry a prostitute and languished over her infidelities. Joseph was sold, falsely accused, and imprisoned. Esther was a showpiece. John the Baptist was thrown into prison and was eventually executed. He questioned the very one he baptized. He held the Son, saw the Holy Spirit, and heard the voice of The Father. Stephen was stoned. Paul suffered. Paul asked for the “thorn” to be removed. It was not, and he grew to appreciate the thorn because it led him to rely more fully upon Christ.

Suffering has its place. We tend to want to avoid it.

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Published by sparedbygrace@yahoo.com

I am Richard Brewer—a Christ-follower, psychologist, husband, father, grandfather (Papa) sometimes writer, and lifelong student of people. For much of my professional life, I've had the privilege of sitting with people as they wrestle with some of life's most difficult questions—questions about faith, suffering, grief, relationships, identity, failure, hope, and what it means to live well. Those conversations have changed the way I see people and the way I understand my own faith. They have taught me that life is rarely as simple as our explanations of it, that people are almost always more complicated than they appear, and that sometimes the wisest response to a difficult question is to empathize and to keep asking better questions. I am a committed Christ-follower, but I am not interested in pretending that Christianity eliminates mystery or that faith means having an answer for everything. Faith invites us to pursue truth honestly, to think deeply, to acknowledge what we do not know, and ultimately to trust the God we do know. Mediocre Meanderings is where I explore some of those questions. I write about faith and psychology, grief and suffering, leadership and relationships, aging and ordinary life—and occasionally whatever else catches my attention along the way. I do not write from the perspective of someone who has figured life out. I write as someone who has lived enough of it to know that I have not. These are my thoughts, questions, observations, and occasional attempts at wisdom. Take what is useful. Challenge what is not. And, if you would like, meander along with me.