Spiritual Health Is About Dependency

This may be a new concept for some folks that there is such a thing as a Spiritually healthy person, or a Spiritually unhealthy person. Obviously, a person who rejects the message of Jesus as the Lord and Savior of the world is Spiritually unhealthy. But there are those who have made the decision to believe in Jesus, they've been baptized, and they go to church, but, it's still possible for someone like this to be Spiritually unhealthy. How? Because they lack dependency on God.

Most people enjoy being independent. I was a youth minister for almost 20 years. Kristi and I are honored that God placed us in a position where we were able to be an influence for a lot of young people. Many of these teens are now grown with kids of their own, or are getting married, and we're so proud of those we were privileged to know. But I've got to tell you that a teenager can be a real disaster for a parent. During these adolescent years the struggle for independence can be a real test of conflict resolution skills for any parent. I can't count how many times I heard, "You can't make me!" Teenagers tend to want independence without the responsibility that goes with it.

Like when it comes time for them to drive a car for example. Many teens want to drive. But balk when they have to pay for the insurance; somehow that part doesn't seem fair. And this drive for independence is natural for human beings. I read this in an article on Focus on the Family, "With rare exception, adolescents develop a powerful drive to become independent, to be in charge of their daily affairs and their future. As a result, bucking the limits, challenging authority and resisting constraints imposed at home and at school are pretty much par for the course....the extent of willfulness and the lack of good judgment can at times be spectacular. And while it may sometimes seem outrageous, some degree of struggling against parental control is a normal and necessary part of growing up."

It's a healthy thing for a human being to become a responsible independent adult. This is what every responsible parent wants for their children. But Jesus followers have an added agenda. We want to be responsible independent adults, and raise our children to be, as well, but, at the same time we desire to become more and more Spiritually dependent on God.

The older we get the less agreeable it is for us to be dependent on our parents. But the more Spiritually mature we become the more we recognize our need for God, the more we depend on our heavenly parent for all of our wants and needs. The reason this is important to point out, is that a lot of well meaning Christian people, believe it's healthy to be independent even Spiritually. This confusion is exposed in statements like this, "God helps those who help themselves." THIS STATEMENT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE. This is one of the biggest lies we buy into. It's not a Spiritually healthy concept at all. The Spiritually mature understanding is, "God helps those who completely depend on Him."

You have to open your mind here to a better understanding. Some folks just really struggle with idea of Grace and dependence on God. They feel that they need to do something, to earn it somehow, to claim complete dependence is just out of character for the human being. We've been fighting to be independent since we were two. Some challenge the idea of Grace by saying that if God just gives it away, then He's creating a license for people to sin. They're thinking goes something like this, "If I receive Grace because I sin, then it makes sense to sin a lot and so I can receive a lot of Grace." Paul addresses this very thing in Romans 6, "Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."

A Spiritually healthy person understands that living as a follower of Jesus means living for Him instead of living for themselves. They get that the Grace of God is provided through their dependence on Jesus.

So let's talk about why we're desperately dependent on Jesus.

Because we are depraved and we need Jesus to face God. Romans 3:10

"As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous—not even one."

Human beings from the time we can walk and talk rebel against authority. As we grow into adults our rebellion becomes more discreet, sophisticated and private. We learn how to mask and hide our sin. We develop sin screen. But God knows it all. And the great thing is that even though God knows your every deepest and darkest secret, He loves you anyway. "Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love." Romans 8:38-39