What is spiritual health according to the Bible?

Here we have the fact that to the "well-beloved Gaius" the apostle writes with this intent. He loved him also in the truth. Whether it was the elect lady and her children, or the well-beloved Gaius, it is all the same thing. It was not because of his hospitality, but "whom I love in the truth." No doubt the apostle did much value his generosity and care; but even in matters wholly different from those of his second Epistle, the distinguishing feature which presses on his soul was this: — "whom I love in the truth." "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." He was not indifferent even as to the bodily well-being of Gaius. The Holy Ghost thus inspires him to write it. It is not a private letter, nor was it an uninspired codicil added to what was inspired; but here it stands in a genuine apostolic epistle, written by John the elder to his brother. He wished that he might prosper and be in health, even as his soul prospered. "For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." It was sweet to the apostle to hear such a testimony to the steadfastness of Gaius in the truth, as it was to hear of all he loved.

"But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees ?" (Judges 9:9). It is not difficult to make the transition from the subject of the enjoyment of our spiritual blessings to that of fatness. This would point to prosperity, not in natural things but rather in spiritual things. The apostle John in his 3rd Epistle refers to this when he writes to his well-beloved Gaius. "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (3 John v. 2). Perhaps this brother did not enjoy good health, but it was an excellent commen­dation that he was spiritually healthy.

Would you, my hearers, enjoy spiritual health? Then let Christ be supreme in your affections. Behold Him, follow Him, dwell with Him and spend your life in self-forgetful services in His Name in this devil-driven and needy world. May the Lord make these things true of us all in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Now the requisites for the spiritual health of the believer's soul, are exactly the same as those for the physical health of his outward man.

If my reader has read the little preface of this book, he will remember what was said there, as to the three essential conditions of health — natural or spiritual — viz.: 1. Good and suitable food; 2. Regular exercise; and 3. A pure, congenial atmosphere. We have found the first of these requisites in the two opening verses of our Psalm; in the third, the exercise of conscience and heart, and the deepening blessing resulting from the restoring grace of Him, Who is the Bishop as well as the Shepherd of our souls.

May we then, Christian brethren, always remember that the true secret of growth is laying aside what is evil in God's sight, and constantly and eagerly drinking in what His own grace has so richly given us in His own word of eternal truth. Without these exercises of soul, how is it possible that we, though redeemed and born of God, can be healthy or happy?

Feeding on Christ then is communion. It is an unfeignedly dependent one having to do with Him, leaning upon Him, drawing from Him, as He is set forth in the Scriptures, and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. When God's own testimony of Him is thus received into our hearts by faith, He is the food and strength of our souls. The more we feed on Him, the more we desire Him. If we are going out after the gratification of fleshly desires, we shall lose our relish for the sincere milk of the word. Fleshly lusts war against the soul. Where personal intercourse and communion with Christ are not practised, there must be weakness and failure, even in those who have spiritual life. It is, therefore, of all importance for us, who have no visible sustaining power, such as "the lamb," "the manna," or "the old corn," that we hold tenaciously, that for spiritual health and activity our joy and strength are found wholly in personal occupation with Christ Himself. Dead, cold, formal exercises are short of this, and to be dreaded. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearkening to His word, are as "needful" as ever; and this the most spiritual and advanced Christians know best, and practise most. May we be kept abiding in Him.

With the bright prospect of eternal life before us, we are to nourish our souls with the words of the faith, and in this way, in communion with the Lord, build ourselves up in the truth of God as revealed in the Scriptures. Prayer too is to mark us; not in the formal way that marks those who are merely religious, but as under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Keeping our-selves in the love of God will mean that we feed upon divine love as made known in the cross of Christ, and realising that the love made known there is still the same, unaffected by all the evil and hatred of men that crucified the Son of God.

The knowledge of God is in Jesus Christ; through Him we know God in all His gracious fullness. (See 1 John 5:20.) The real heart knowledge of Him produces fruit because it carries with it divine power, which has given to the believer "all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us by glory and virtue." Life and glory are the gifts of grace; life is bestowed in the new birth which fits for glory, but godliness and virtue are the practical results of that grace in the life of the believer. The divine power for godliness and virtue which are to be manifested in the believer's life, that power which is able to act in us and give us the victory, must be laid hold on by faith. "How precious it is to know that faith can use this divine power, realized in the life of the soul, directing it toward glory in the end! What a safeguard from the efforts of the enemy, if we are really established in the consciousness of this divine power acting on our behalf in grace! The heart is led to make glory its object; and virtue, the strength of spiritual life, is developed on the way to it. Divine power has given all that is needed" (Synopsis of the Bible.)

The maturity of the fathers consists in knowing Him that was from the beginning, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual progress and maturity is a deep knowledge and appreciation of Christ. The Apostle Paul illustrates what real Christian maturity is. He had but one desire to know Him; not I but Christ; Christ is all. The Fathers have Christ for their fullest portion and walking in Him have learned the depths of His grace and the glory of His person. They are occupied not with their experience but with Himself It has been well said, "All true experience ends with forgetting self and thinking of Christ." To know Him, to know Him still better, to be entirely dependent on Him, to have none other but Him, never losing sight of Him-- that is the highest attainment of a Christian.