Are you in the “top ten”?

Whether we’re gauging successes or experiences, or even creating a ranking for a laugh, we often want to be in “the top ten”. Here is one top ten that you might want to take a closer look at and also reflect upon – are you “healthy” or “unhealthy” according to the following list? What are some of the next steps you can take to begin to address these in your life or in your home?

Top 10 Symptoms of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality

1. Using God to run from God.
My prayers are usually about God doing my will, not me surrendering to His.

2. Ignoring the emotions of anger, sadness and fear.
I am rarely honest with myself and/or others about the feelings, hurts, and pains beneath the surface of my life.

3. Dying to the wrong things.
I tend to deny healthy, God-given desires and pleasures of life such as friendships, joy, music, beauty, laughter, and nature. At the same time, I find it difficult to die to my self-protectiveness, defensiveness, lack of vulnerability, and judgmentalism.

4. Denying the past’s impact on the present.
I rarely consider how my family or origin and significant people/events from my past have shaped my present.

5. Dividing our lives into “secular” and “sacred” compartments.
I easily compartmentalize God to “Christian activities” while usually forgetting about Him when I am working, shopping, studying, or recreating.

6. Doing for God instead of being with God.
I tend to evaluate my spirituality based on how much I am doing for God.

7. Spiritualizing away conflict.
I usually miss out on true peace by smoothing over disagreements, burying tensions, and avoiding conflict, rather than disrupting false peace as Jesus did.

8. Covering over brokenness, weakness and failure.
I have a hard time speaking freely about my weaknesses, failures, and mistakes.

9. Living without limits.
Those close to me would say that I often “try to do it all” or “bite off more than I can chew”.

10. Judging other people’s spiritual journey.
I often find myself occupied and bothered by the faults of those around me.