HOW A HEALTHY PERSON BEHAVES AND BELIEVES

This is and is not an easy subject to discuss. This picture of a "normal" human being is not meant to discourage you, only to serve as a guidepost as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As you continue to mature in Him, this representation could encourage you to notice how the Spirit has worked through the Word to bring your old nature more and more into conformity to the image of God's Son.

No one measures up in the flesh. In our New Nature, we are complete and righteous and want what God wants because of the Ministry of Christ. In this way, we are always Saint and Sinner. The Saint in us would always look to Christ; the Sinner part would never look to Christ. Thus, Christ uses our Sinner part and all that this includes, to serve as a reminder to look to Him, for He alone is our Righteousness and Treasure.

This is my concept of a truly healthy individual, and I have this concept in mind as I work with you, my client. I have no hope of attaining to this ideal, nor will I allow myself to feel defeated that you won't either. But by the grace of God we press toward maturity. As Luther stated, "We are tending toward being Christians—it is a progressive order." By faith I realize and believe that a small "adjustment" now can bring large dividends in the future. Change starts off small. That is why we are told not to despise small things. We entrust ourselves to His Keeping; He is responsible for our growth and maturity, because our power is powerless to cause genuine, enduring change.

In short, a healthy person, like Christ, grows in "favor with God and men." That means that we, through the Spirit, resist less and less His dispelling the darkness of our hearts with His love. We grow to deeply honor God and Man more and more. We have a desire to serve both in a way that doesn't take notice of the service. It becomes as natural as breathing and hardly any attention is paid to it. A healthy person is primarily focused on looking to God to protect him from his sinful ways, many of which he is completely unaware—he begs for mercy and grace constantly. A healthy person's mind is caught up with praising and thanking the Lord for all the He abundantly provides—the only "thing" we offer God is our praise.

A healthy person refuses to remain in a feeling of guilt and shame. He knows he receives forgiveness for his sin and moves away from self-defeating guilt. He knows that guilt is nothing more than an excuse to keep doing what he says he doesn't want to do. During times of guilt, or any other form of suffering, the healthy person of faith calmly endures, knowing they only serve to perfect his faith and produce patience and perseverance. Against reason, he looks to Christ for deliverance—even though it may seem as if he has been forgotten. His heart continually cries, "Daddy, Father."

A healthy person only delights in His Lord and the Word. Nothing else even begins to satisfy him. While he may enjoy all the things that God gives him to enjoy, he only is filled with Christ. He restrains all his appetites by the grace of God, lest he be led astray through his eyes or experience. He is aware of an emptiness within him that only Christ can fill, and through the Spirit resists the temptation to fill himself in other ways. This battle grieves his heart. He wrestles with his passions, sees his inherent sinfulness, and labors under the burden of being flesh and blood, until he earnestly desires to leave this world and be with Christ. His desire is not to give up, for he knows that he can do all things through Christ, but he just wants to be completely delivered from sin and enjoy unbroken fellowship with his Lord.

The healthy individual is not afraid, but courageous because of the power of the Gospel. When he recognizes his fear he immediately turns to the Lord for power, deliverance, and courage. He knows that God uses his fear to increase his faith. He knows that by faith he can be used to provide many things to many people, especially as a priest to his family and friends—he intercedes on behalf of all people and seeks only to be a blessing.

The healthy person only wants to be used to make the world a better place by being faithful to the Lord, even though he knows the world will not appreciate it his effort. He is comfortable doing this by faith even though he feels unworthy to the task—he is not afraid of being weak, for he knows faith is perfected in weakness. He is neither afraid to be weak, nor is he afraid of his emotions, but rather explores his emotions to learn more about himself. He wants full enlightenment as to who he is and how he can be better by the grace of Christ. He is not afraid to think and grapple with new ideas that may even seem to him to be revolutionary. He is determined to have his mind renewed through the Sword of the Spirit, and he knows this "renewing" is painfully confusing, but he learns to be comfortable with confusion. He understands how important it is to have his beliefs changed because belief is more powerful than faith and conscience.

This healthy person is truly independent but cooperative; he is honest, sincere and responsible; he is poised; he is fully aware of all that he experiences—he does not deny experience; he does not try to be the center of attention; he does not strip others of their power; he does not take revenge on others, but is quick to forgive—he knows that he is capable of worse offenses than he has experienced at the hands of others; he is willing to risk; and he honors the opposite sex as fellow workers in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The healthy individual yields to the God-ordained authority of the Church, the Home, and the State. He offers his opinion respectfully and candidly, but does not huff and puff when things do not go his way, for he knows that "things are going to happen as they happen." He has done his duty and knows when to yield in matters of love, though in matters that affect faith he is altogether unyielding. He looks to spiritual leadership for direction and wisdom as to how to distinguish matters of faith and love, and Law and Gospel.

The healthy person acknowledges his need and seeks appropriate help to fill that need. He pursues help until there is a genuine comfort level that the need and deficiency has been filled and it is time to move courageously forward again. On a personal note, I must say that I believe too many people do not follow through to a "comfortable" conclusion to therapy. While I do not want to breed dependency in clients, I believe that clients who remain in the counseling relationship until both client and counselor agree it is time to terminate are the wisest of the wise.

Finally, the healthy individual is comfortable with incompleteness. He knows there is no "arrival" this side of Heaven. He patiently awaits His Lord's appearance from Heaven when he will be made instantly complete in every sense of the word. Until that time he submits to the ebb and flow of life and the cycles of grief over sin and the comfort of forgiveness. He knows there is no man on earth without sin and insanity in his heart. Rather than causing him to stumble, these facts only serve to turn his gaze toward Christ.

May God bless you and be gracious to you!

Written by Tim Vance.