13 Things Mentally Strong Christians Don’t Do
Don’t worry, this isn’t a topically
late post about 13 reasons why. My mother and I were actually talking about a
list she found on Linked in titled “13 Things Mentally Strong People don’t
do. It’s talking about mental habits
that we should not do in a professional sense. We got to thinking how to apply
this list to Christians, because we suffer from mental health problems like
everyone else. What I would like to is to go through this list and apply
scriptural principles to it and change the list to 13 Things Mentally Strong
Christians Don’t Do.
1)
They don’t
stay in their comfort zone- Go and make disciples of men (Matthew
28:16-20). Jesus called his disciples from fishing boats, medicine, and tax
offices to follow him and to spread the gospel. If we consider Paul, he was
called from the religious Jewish elite to support a new faith that many were
trying to kill, literally and figuratively. I can see this parallel with the
Christians who are converts from Islam.
2)
They don’t
give in to fear- For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but rather a
spirit of courage. (2 Timothy 1:7) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous, for the Lord your God will be with you. (Joshua 1:9) We have God
with us in our personal ministries, so why should we be afraid of anything this
world has to throw at us? Even to the point of death, we know where our
eternity lies, so we should not allow temporary fears to stop our work. Joshua
was being given marching orders to go to war! Most of us as Christians in the
west are only risking our social status. Though, all Christians are spiritual
soldiers. We are in this world to spread love and truth, and we are being
combatted by saying that we are actually hateful or that truth is relative.
3)
They don’t
stop believing in themselves- I could refer you to above about being strong
and courageous and that God will be with you and it would be perfectly valid, but let’s dig
a bit deeper and find some specific verses. People stop believing in themselves
when they worry, so we can look at Matthew 6:25-34. 25 “Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the
birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one
of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?28 “And
why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do
not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell
you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not
worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’ 32 For the
pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them. 33 But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.”
4)
They don’t
beg for attention- Do not be like the Pharisees, who pray loudly in the
sight of everyone for all to see, for I tell you that they already have their
reward. (Matthew 6:5-15) We do not seek the attentions of man, but rather work
so that we are mirrors, reflecting the glory of God into all the corners of the
earth. We even don’t have to be large mirrors, as God values every single soul
that would turn to him, as I described in my last post.
5)
They don’t
act like jerks- “As long is it depends on you, be at peace with everyone”
(Romans 12:18). “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. We have
a couple of verse that show we should be diplomatic and humble. We should only
be boastful in God and his grace and the salvation through Jesus.
6)
They don’t
hold grudges- “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their
sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15) This seems
pretty self-explanatory. God has shown us great mercy in giving us Jesus as our
sin sacrifice, so we should forgive our neighbors when they sin against us to
pay it forward and to show a modest fraction of this grace.
7)
They don’t
hang around negative people- “Bad company ruins good morals” (1Corinthians
15:33) “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). “Make no
friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you
learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” I could go on, but we need to
be in company and situations that bring us to focus onto Christ and grow us in
that relationship with him.
8)
They don’t
feel sorry for themselves- “Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters,
when you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2) Why let anything on this Earth
steal our joy and hope for our eternity in Heaven and with our Heavenly Father!
9)
They don’t
feel entitled- For the world and everything in it belongs to the Lord. We
are blessed to be where we are and God has given us each our crosses to bear.
We should be thankful to be here and have what we have. Not to work for our
goals, but don’t feel like we are due anything in this life.
10)
The don’t
close their minds- “Do not call anything I have made clean unclean” (Acts
10:15) This was God speaking to Peter removing the dietary restrictions, but
more importantly, It was God also commanding Peter to go to even the gentiles
to spread the gospel. The early church had an issue with proselytizing to just
the Jewish community, but the gospel is for everyone. We need to keep this in
mind. We cannot allow our prejudices to prevent us from talking about Jesus to
anyone that crosses our path.
11)
They don’t
let anyone limit their joy- “For your enemy is prowling like a
roaring lion, seeking all whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) “Do not let your
hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1) “Now
is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you wiil rejoice, and no
one will take away your joy” (John 16:22) Once again, our joy is limited when
we take our eyes off of Jesus and his promises. If we can focus on him always,
then our joy will never leave because all we see is our risen Messiah and the
promise of an eternity with him that his resurrection signifies!
12)
They don’t
get eaten up by jealousy and envy- “For where jealousy and selfish ambition
exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16) “But if you
have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be
false to the truth.” (James 3:14) “You desire and do not have, so you murder.
You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because
you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend
it on your passions” We don’t focus on God, we focus on ourselves. If we are
focused on God and praying according to His will for our lives, then He will
provide our prayers. However, if we are selfish and greedy children, then God
will say no to our prayers!
13)
They don’t
live in the past- “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14) “Remember not
the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new
thing; now it spring forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19) Why would we focus on
the past when we have our wonderful present and even more amazing future ahead
of us now that we have been redeemed and restored to fellowship with God by the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
So there is a Christian’s take on
this list of mental strength. I definitely don’t live up to this list every
day, but Christ gave us an example, in even this. I would hope that this has
helped you if you were in any sort of anguish. May God bless you and have a good rest of your day.
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