Are you well?

It is common for us to get health checks at the doctor’s surgery. There, we will be asked several questions designed to reveal if we are doing what we should in order to be healthy. What signs are there in our spiritual lives that will indicate we are healthy believers?

Healthy Christians love one another deeply. This love is not based on their age, or on their status in society, or on how much they know about doctrines, or on whether they have some shared interests or hobbies. Instead, it flows from the Holy Spirit who lives within them and is changing them for the better throughout life. They experience joy as they observe how the Lord works in the lives of other believers. The fact is, a healthy church is composed of people who love one another. If a person does not love, there is something far wrong with that individual.

Healthy Christians want the kingdom to expand everywhere. They are gospel people. While there are many areas of concern in life, they don’t get distracted away from the fact that they want to remain passionate about the growth of the kingdom. No doubt, there are many reasons for this desire. They want the name of Jesus to be honoured, they love their fellowmen and women and desire that they too would discover the blessings of the gospel. When they hear about gospel progress, they rejoice.

Healthy Christians realise the need for ongoing prayer. How is the gospel going to expand? They know that it only will do so through the blessing of God. Therefore, they pray for that to happen, and they pray together for that to happen, and they pray together often for that to happen. 

Healthy Christians keep an eye on the return of Christ. What do we want Jesus to say about us on that day? Surely, we want him to say that despite our failings we lived for him. In the long run, the only verdict that will matter about anything is what Jesus will say about it on that Day.

Healthy Christians know that all their spiritual experience and progress comes because they are united in a living relationship with Jesus Christ. From him and through him comes the grace that enables them to be righteous. Therefore, they depend upon him all the way. They look to him for the grace that they need, and they look expectantly because they know who he is.