Mental Health that Flourishes
Don’t we all want that? A sound mind that flourishes? Instead of being tossed about in a storm, don’t we long for stability, assurance, hope, and an anchor we can trust? That is the blessing of being a Christian, but how do we experience it? How is it accomplished? How can the God of the universe be present in relationship with you and me to sustain, carry, and help us flourish? Mental health that flourishes touches every part of life: our relationship with God, how we view ourselves, and how we treat others.
I want to be clear that God’s Word does not specifically mention mental health that flourishes, but it does have a lot to say about the heart and mind, spiritual brokenness, and the condition of the soul. I’ve uncovered 166 Bible verses on the mind alone, and I am still researching (thus, the part 1).
Having established that the Bible speaks extensively about the mind and heart, we can now explore how God’s Word guides true mental health and flourishing. We can read God’s Word and study His attributes to understand His plan. I don’t want to assume anything, so I want to first cover the foundation of understanding the gospel.
• God made the world and humans to know Him (Gen. 1–2).
• Humanity sinned, breaking the relationship with God (Gen. 3).
• Jesus, God’s Son, came, lived sinlessly, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3–4).
• By turning from sin and trusting Jesus, we receive forgiveness and eternal life (John 3:16; Rom. 10:9).
• One day Jesus will return, and God will make all things new (Rev. 21).
In short: Creation – Fall – Redemption – Response – Restoration.
From this, we can infer that Christianity offers a view of the human person that stretches across time: past, present, and future. The redemptive arc of justification, sanctification, and glorification shapes how we understand true mental health and human flourishing.
Now, let’s dive in deeper.
In 1 Tim 4, Paul acknowledges that self-care, both physical and spiritual, is a necessity. He emphasizes that training in godliness is the priority because of its eternal value. Paul provides important advice for Timothy's own personal spiritual choices. Paul instructs him to be diligent, faithful, and prepared.
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
Paul often speaks of the "next life" as the true focus of the believer. This helps us today, as Christians, expand our present view of the world to an eternal, broader perspective on life. In essence, focus on God, not self.
"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2
The things "above" are the things of God. We, as Christians, have been set free from the bondage of sin. Christ paid the penalty for us, and when we have accepted Him as our Savior, we are spiritually free and should not live in the sins that used to hold us captive.
These principles naturally lead us to consider what training in godliness looks like in action. Paul outlines behaviors of believers that ought to demonstrate compassion, humility, patience, and forgiveness and, most of all, to demonstrate love.
Biblical boundaries are related to self-control. We are to limit our natural selfish inclinations and take responsibility for our own lives. Living inside God’s boundaries brings blessing, and living outside of them brings destruction and death (Romans 6:23). Adam and Eve model this reality when they chose to step outside the boundaries of God and sin. Instead of taking responsibility for their lack of self-control, they blamed others.
Biblical boundaries limit destructive behaviors (Romans 13:1-4) and help believers resist worldly influences. As Christians, we are ‘light’ and have no fellowship with ‘darkness’ and thus are to live separate and distinctly from the world (2 Corinthians 6:14). We are not to embrace the world’s way of doing things (James 4:4). Yet boundaries are not only about what we resist in the world—they also call us to lay down our own selfish desires. This is why Paul urges believers to ‘die to self.’
In Romans 12, Paul describes setting ourselves aside to serve the Lord, each other, and even our enemies in love. This means when you have feelings of anger, frustration, or insert whatever feeling you have often, God will have us surrender our selfish desires, pride, and sinful nature so that Christ can live through us (sometimes known as ‘die to self’. For a long time, this confused me. How could I do this with a pure heart? It seems unreasonable (at first) to ignore what happened to me and be kind to someone who hurt me (intentionally or unintentionally). What was God asking me to do?
Well, this does seem legitimately unfair if you have a worldly perspective that focuses on the here and now. But with an eternal view of humanity and an eternal focus on the soul, you can shift your perspective and ‘die to self.’
What do I mean by this? I mean, when you look at the person who hurt, offended, or did ‘X’ to you and see them raw in their humanity, as broken souls in need of a savior, while at the same time understanding that you have the power of God’s love given to you through the Holy Spirit to either point them to Christ or not, then you acquire a fear of God and a healthy fear of being a barrier to a lost soul. Do not let your words or actions push someone away from God. You might be the ‘right’ one, the ‘justified in your response’ one, but God says we can have self-control and victory over our flesh and that we are capable of laying down our lives to serve others just as Jesus did. Keep in mind, no one gets away with anything, and each person has to give an account of their behaviors, but let God handle that and pray that the person repents before it's too late. After all, were you not given grace by God in your sin?
This leads to the natural progression of mental and spiritual growth:
desire → gospel → training → boundaries → self-denial → practical application → eternal perspective → flourishing.
When you understand love as a weapon, you can see God wooing human souls to Him by us reacting differently, by us focusing on things above—spiritual truths that set people free from the sin that seeks to destroy them. That is how you can shift your mindset off yourself and onto God.
That produces human flourishing: living in God’s boundaries, empowered by the grace that was shown to you.
References
New International Bible. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1978).
