“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:1-5)

The Bible is very clear about the necessity of living with Christ-like character. Too often we think living Christ-like is limited to issues of personal sin and the temptations we may face. But it is more important to understand that it applies primarily to our relationships with others. In fact, a powerful truth is that we can find victory over personal struggles with sin, destructive behaviors, and thoughts through our healthy relationships with others. 

God created us to live in community. And it is community that forces us to deal with our emotional health, as well as provides opportunities and help in learning to grow healthy relationally. 

A big idea in our next series, Emotionally Healthy Community, is that our spiritual maturity is directly linked to our emotional maturity.  We cannot separate our spiritual condition from our emotional condition; they are intricately interconnected. Too often we see spiritual gifts or knowledge as indicators of spiritual maturity, and overlook the emotional state of ourselves or those we see as spiritual. 

Peter Scazzero, in his book The Emotionally Healthy Church, says, “The sad truth is that too little difference exists, in terms of emotional and relational maturity, between God’s people inside the church and those outside who claim no relationship to Jesus Christ.”  The verse in Philippians above states it is from being united with Christ that we should live in healthy community. Jesus died not only to save us from hell and eternal separation from His presence, but to transform our lives now to be rich and full emotionally, happy, and fulfilled relationally.  

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will explore seven principles of emotional health:  1) Looking Beneath the Surface, 2) Breaking the Power of the Past, 3) Living in Brokenness and Vulnerability, 4) Receiving the Gift of Limits, 5) Embracing Grieving and Loss, 6) Making Incarnation Your Model for Loving Well, 7) Slowing Down to Lead with Integrity. I am confident that each of us will grow both emotionally and spiritually as we learn to implement these principles in our lives, our homes, our church, and our communities.  Let’s learn how to better be the body of Christ representing Jesus to those around us!