Theme of the Week: The Emotionally Healthy Man
Bible Verse: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:13-34
Most Christians are not intentional, but rather functional, like cars on autopilot. Our crammed schedules, endless to-do lists, demanding jobs and families, constant noise, information bombardment, and anxieties keep us speeding up, not slowing down.
Is it any wonder that most people live off other people’s spirituality rather than taking the time to develop their own direct experience of God?
Is it any wonder that most people live off other people’s spirituality rather than taking the time to develop their own direct experience of God?
Most Christians talk about prayer but don’t pray. Most believe the Bible as the Word of God but have little idea what it says. Our goals for our children differ little from those of “pagans” who do not know God. Like the world, we, too, grade people based on their education, wealth, beauty, and popularity.
Nurturing a growing spirituality with depth in our present-day culture will require a thoughtful, conscious, intentional plan for our spiritual lives.
God has made each of us unique and different. Our goal is the same: union with God in Christ, transformation into his image, and the freeing of our hearts from anything that stands in the way of Christ living in and through us. How we get there will vary, depending on our personality, gift mix, temperament, geographic location, and particular calling from God. In addition, God will have different practices and emphases at different seasons and phases of our lives.
St. Francis of Assisi, for example, would spend weeks alone in his hermitage and then travel for weeks preaching the message of Jesus to anyone who would listen.
We, too, are called to order our lives around spiritual practices and disciplines—that is, a “Rule of Life,” something utterly foreign to the world around us. It is a call to order our entire life in such a way that the love of Christ comes before all else.
Taken from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature by Peter Scazzero, Copyright © 2014. Used by permission of Zondervan.
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commission from qualifying purchases on Amazon.ca. Learn more.
Copyright © 2021 Impactus | Promise Keepers Canada. All rights reserved.
About
