The Path to Spiritual Health

There are many today, a vast majority in-fact, of people who consider themselves in one way or another as "spiritual"... some even deeply so. However it is an interesting thing that when questioned about their spiritual beliefs, that a large percentage of those people are not able to answer even the most basic of questions regarding their beliefs or even more simplistic, why they believe the way they do.

Now it would be hypocritical of me to make that statement above and then go on to write about spiritual health without first explaining what I believe and why I believe the way I do. First, I am a Christian, but not the type of Christian that you may expect. It is a sad-yet-true fact that most of the Christians today are paper-Christians; that is to say, Christians in title only with no real love for Christ or in some (if not most) cases, no spirituality at all. These are the type of Christians that go to church, sing loudly, shout Hallelujah, raise their hands, and profess their faith loudly and may even have two or three fish-symbols on their car... but the moment they leave the church they are the most sour, repulsive and hypocritical creatures you have ever had the misfortune to come across. They have a beautiful Bible on their coffee table for all to see -- and it is collecting dust from never being opened and studied.

I am not one of those Christians. I believe in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is the accurate and impeccable words of God, written by men who were supernaturally inspired by God. I believe that Jesus was God, who came down to earth as a man, lived a perfect life and then was crucified to pay for our sins, the sins of the entire world, and then was resurrected and ascended into Heaven, and that He will return in the last days to take His faithful to Heaven with Him. Furthermore, I continue to read and study the Bible on a daily basis. I believe that to do less would be negligence on my part.

I didn't add the last line for bragging rights. See, spiritual health and physical health have a lot in-common. To be physically healthy, we need to do two things on a daily basis: eat right and exercise. It is no different with spiritual health. Does that seem overly simplistic? Well, it's not. No-one ever said that the answers in life and the path to balance has to be complicated... Difficult yes, but not complicated. Just as we must eat the right food in the right amounts and exercise regularly to be physically fit and healthy, likewise we must feed our spirit the right food and exercise it regularly as well.

Now I know some of you are thinking "feed our spirit? What are you talking about??". We feed our spirit in two ways... Reading the Bible (including studying), and spending time with God in prayer and supplication. It's true, we can feed our spirits by doing these things. The other side of that truth is that we can also starve our spirit by not doing those things, and that leads to an unbalanced life.

Do you think I am a few bricks short of a house? Think about it... Have you ever encountered someone who seems to have everything? Money, a nice home, great family, and yet they are still miserable. I can name quite a few famous wealthy people whose lives have ended in depression and suicide, and I'm sure you can as well. Why is it that every day we hear of more sports stars (who are very rich) committing crimes -- including petty theft -- for things they could easily afford? The answer is simple... Their lives are unbalanced. They have concentrated entirely on the physical parts of their lives, and indeed their physical lives are over-fed, while their spiritual lives have been starved, leaving them with a feeling of emptiness that nothing in their physical lives can fill. Why? Because the emptiness is spiritual.

So to recap, we feed our spirit by reading the Bible, which includes studying it, and by spending time in prayer and supplication with God. So now how do we exercise it? We exercise our spirit by practicing and doing what we learn. What happens in your physical body if you feed it but don't get enough exercise? You become fat and lazy, you lack energy and eventually develop fatal health problems. It's the exact same thing spiritually.

Which is easier: To go to the gym and get in a good two hours of exercise, or to recline on the couch or a favorite chair and watch television and eat snacks? Which of those is more healthy for your body?

Likewise which is easier: To be angry and throw a temper-tantrum when something doesn't go your way, or to control yourself and continue on and not allow anger and bitterness to rule you? Which is healthier for your spirit?

The answers should be obvious... It is more difficult to do the right things physically and spiritually, but in both cases the more difficult things are also the ones which will promote a healthy body and spirit.

When someone hurts you, do you hold a grudge? Do you retaliate in anger? Indeed it is much easier to do those things, but they are not healthy for your spirit, and they are signs of an unbalanced life. I am not judging you, this is self-evaluation. From what you have read above, is your spirit being starved? Is your life perhaps not as balanced as it could be? If you answered yes, I appreciate your honesty, and below are some steps that you can take to re-balance your spiritual life.

Steps to re-balancing your spiritual life

Accept Jesus. If you have never accepted Jesus' sacrifice for your sins, then you are carrying a debt and spiritual weight that you were never designed to carry. I would encourage you accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you and stop carrying the weight of sin. Learn how to accept Jesus.

Put God first. This may seem obvious, but it is one of the first areas where people start to slip. The Bible makes it clear in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 , that we are to put God first, and if we do that, everything else will be "added unto us". To simplify, if we put God first, He will put us first.

Let me ask you this: When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? Brush you teeth? Maybe take a shower or shave? What do you think would happen if before any of that, you decided to pray and read a scripture or two? And I don't mean a "fast-food prayer" without any real feeling, I mean an honest, heart-felt prayer and serious reading, not out of obligation, but because you really wanted to.

Personally, I have found that when I put God first and start my day with prayer and Bible reading, the day is much more productive than when I don't.

Let what you read truly effect your daily life and decisions. Said another way: refuse to be a hypocrite. The hypocrite Christian will read "Do not steal", and then swipe a box of pens from work. The hypocrite will read "love your neighbor as yourself" and then flip someone off and cut in-front of them on the highway. Don't be like them.

Listen to God. Not to be confused with the previous paragraph, listening to God as an important part of prayer. Prayer is not about you telling God what you want him to do. God is not a genie, God is your creator and ultimate ruler of everything, let us never forget that. A decent amount of prayer time should be spent in silence listening. You can't hear from God if you never be silent and allow Him to speak. In 1^st Kings chapter 19 verse 12, the Bible describes God's voice as "still" and "small"; a low whisper. He will not shout over you, if you aren't silent, you will miss His voice.

Conclusion

I hope this information has been useful to you. If you have realized that your spiritual life was being starved and causing your life to be unbalanced, then I would encourage you begin following the steps outlined above. The more effort you put into them, the better they will help. Nothing good comes without effort. Rise to the Challenge!