Developing Spiritual Well-being

Dependency is a normal part of human development. It is the glue that holds relationships together. When we feel consistently loved our emotions show it through our stability. The more we struggle with anger, the more it indicates that our need for love was not met. Through anger we cry the unspoken question, “Why can’t you just love me?”

Feeling unloved breed’s extreme dependency: Extreme dependency allows thoughts and emotions to be dictated by external circumstances. Extreme dependency thinks: “I’ve got to have steady surroundings so I can be stable. I worry about how others treat me.” This we can be sure: His love never changes, His mercy is everlasting.  “My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge” (Psalm 62:7).

Developing Spiritual well-being: When your dependency on humans is exchanged for a dependency on strength from God, you begin to learn what it means to have a deeply rooted sense of spiritual well-being. Our dependency for love can be met by accepting God’s great declaration of our worth. “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor” (Proverbs 21:21). Knowing you can draw upon spiritual strength, you can choose not to let your anger be at the mercy of your environment. Balancing your dependencies can be achieved in part by the following four ways:

1.    Spiritual well-being occurs as we acknowledge our own inability to solve all our own problems. As we admit our weaknesses we take a step toward personal stability. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

2.    Acknowledge the unreliability of other people. This encourages us to accept the reality of the sinful nature in us all. Put your hope in God, not in people. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 

3.    Yield yourself to the will of Christ and summit your life to His ways. You will no longer be bound by the opinions of others, and your success is inevitable. “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:4-5).   

4.    Spiritual well-being comes by choosing to endorse the healthy characteristics prescribed in God’s Word by setting boundaries and acting assertively when necessary. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:16).