A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart- Luke 6:43-45 NLT. 

Here’s the thing:

It is totally possible to be a Christian and be a flaming-hot-mess spiritually speaking (James 1:8).  Unfortunately, salvation does not automatically make one spiritually healthy, wise or able to walk out the commands of Scripture without some help and training. All that comes with sanctification (Romans 6:17-22, 1st Thessalonians 4:1-4). Unless someone is saved immediately prior to death (Luke 23:39-43) sanctification is a life-long process all Christians must go through in order to become holy in their actions and attitudes (Romans 12:1-21, Colossians 3:1-25, 1st Peter 1:13-16, 1st Thessalonians 4:1-8). Because sanctification is so critical most of the Apostle Paul’s letters were written to take unruly and spiritually unhealthy believers to a place of spiritual maturity and holiness (Hebrews 12:14, 1st Thessalonians 5:14). Paul understood that flaming-hot-spiritual messes do not glorify God, lead people to Jesus or become the salt and light they were created to be (Matthew 5:13-15, 1st Peter 1:13-16). 

So, what does spiritual health look like? 

Some would say the answer is found in the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). It’s difficult to argue against that logic. No Christian with an iota of biblical understanding would be opposed to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The apostle Paul was spot on when he said that “against such things there is no law”. However, every fruit is an outward behavior that can be faked. Therefore, unless the fruits are combined with deep spiritual work aimed at heart change those behaviors are just outward goodness absent any authentic heart change (Matthew 7:21-23, 2nd Corinthians 11:13-15). No one wants that. Following are five signs of good spiritual health:

We Understand the waywardness of the human heart-

Scripture teaches even the nicest people have hearts bent towards self-deception (Jeremiah 17:9, James 1:22-24).  This basically means the heart wants what it wants and will do a lot of shady maneuvering to get what it wants. All this can get done with very little (no) sorrow about the choices involved in getting what it wants. Even God-fearing Christian people are capable of an insane level of self-deception.  Self-awareness is key when it comes to our hearts. We must make a practice of ruthlessly examining our motives and thoughts (2nd Corinthians 13:5). When we learn to examine our motives and thoughts for self-deception, we automatically become less prone to sin and therefore more spiritually healthy. 

We seek to align with God on every issue- 

The Greek word for repent (metanoia) does not mean what most of us think it means (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Acts 3:19). Most of us have been taught that “repent” means to change one’s behavior and go another direction. In reality, “repent” means “to change one’s mind”. Once our thinking is aligned with God’s heart on the issues then we are to go in the direction God’s word tells us to go in. The meaning of this one little word teaches us one can be truly obedient to God unless they are in alignment with His revealed truth. This means we should ask God daily to reveal areas of our thinking that are out of alignment with God’s revealed truth. Proper thinking on the issues of life is the foundation spiritual health. 

We love others deeply but know that love is more than friendliness or being “nice”- 

Christian love is difficult in a culture that has redefined love to mean “being nice” or “affirming” a person’s choices no matter how stupid or unbiblical those choices happen to be. Authentic Christian love believes the best of people, fights endlessly for the good of others and prays like a lunatic for those who are lost and hurting.  However, authentic Christian love never affirms or celebrates any behavior, or attitude Jesus did not affirm or celebrate (1stCorinthians 13:4-7). 

We have a moral compass informed by Christian truth- 

We live in an upside-down world that has redefined morality. There are many voices teaching abortion is a gift, greed is good, homosexuality is just another relationship option, and gender is a choice mortals get to make. These same people teach that hate is acceptable (even virtuous) so long as the hatred is aimed at those who disagree with the social standards of our time (2ndTimothy 4:3-4, 2nd Timothy 3:1-5). This makes it absolutely necessary followers of Jesus develop a moral compass independent of popular culture and fully informed by the Bible (Psalm 119:105, Matthew 7:24-26, Hebrews 4:12). 

And finally, healthy followers of Jesus must:

We seek to be filled with both grace and truth- 

Grace loves people unconditionally and truth tells them where their actions and attitudes will lead. It is no easy task to do both at the same time. Jesus is our guide when it comes to this issue. One of the first things the Apostle John tells us about Jesus is that He was filled with both grace and truth all at the same time (John 1:14). Our Lord was not filled to overflowing with grace some of the time and bursting with truth at other times. He was always gracious and He was always truthful. Spiritual health demands we strive to do the same.