What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God? 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Spiritual health matters just as much as physical health—yet many believers rarely pause to examine it. In this week’s Light on Life podcast, we look at what genuine spiritual growth looks like through the lens of 2 Thessalonians 1:1–5. Paul thanked God for believers whose faith was growing, whose love was increasing, and whose steadfastness held strong under pressure. Those same markers help us evaluate our own walk with Jesus today. Are we becoming more like Him? Are we developing in love, faith, endurance, and community? In this episode, discover the biblical indicators of a spiritually healthy Jesus follower—and how God shapes us into His likeness one step at a time.
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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.This week’s call is:
Do a spiritual health check-up. How's your faith life? How's your 'love walk in God?
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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.This week’s question is:
Question: Share a testimony about how your journey to spiritual health. Share your story in the comments section below.
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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Podcast Notes:
Prayer
Father God, we know that part of your plan for our lives includes growing into the image of Jesus. Thank you for that plan. It’s a great plan — a right plan — a marvelous plan. Help us in this - grant unto us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you so that we can maintain our spiritual health all the while growing into your fulness. We give you all the praise and glory for this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
2 Thessalonians 1:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
Paul begins verse three with these words, ‘We ought to give thanks to God for you.’
We ‘ought’ to do it.
The word ‘ought’ means to be under an obligation to do a thing.
What’s the truth that Paul, by the Spirit of God, is expressing?
We must thank God for others.
We should do it — we ought to do it — we have a responsibility to do it.
I would dare to say that we are not thanking God near enough for the people in our lives.
There are several reasons this condition exists.
For one, we didn’t even know that we had this as an obligation.
Two, we aren’t really cognizant of the fact that He put beautiful people in our path.
He did that thing.
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.
The Lord put Sharon in my path. He did it while she was sleeping as a young, vibrant 16-year-old. The Father God gave her a dream and in that night vision, she saw me with a halo around my head. The halo didn't represent my character since I wasn't saved yet. I gave my heart to Jesus one year after this dream. The halo had to do with my Catholic upbringing. Think about the unlikeness of this ever coming to pass. At the time of the dream, I was living in an adjoining state. We’re talking New York, New Jersey — a heavily populated area of the country. So, the 110-mile distance was not in our favor. Sharon was Pentecostal, I was Catholic. She was black, I was white. Sharon was saved. I was not. Nothing was in favor of our ever getting to even meet one another, let alone get married. It’s a long story and, one day I will tell it all, but for today just know that these obstacles that seem so major were obliterated by the hand and foreknowledge of God. Sharon and I have been happily married for 43 years.
God put Sharon in my path.
He did much work to bring this about — some super planning to pull this all off.
I thank God for Sharon — I thank the Lord that He thought about me.
Husbands should thank God for their wife way more than they are.
Wives should thank God for their husband's way more than they are.
Words of appreciation should flow from our lips.
You will stop fussing so much with one another if you will simply give thanks.
We should thank God for the people in our world who bless us and give input into our lives.
It’s easy to understand why we should — who made those people the way they are?
Who graced them, who transformed them, who made them sensitive and supple to the Spirit of God?
They didn’t do that on their own — they couldn’t do that on their own.
They needed help.
The Lord supplied that help!
It’s His new creation ability working inside of them — it’s His Presence and Resurrection power at work moving and shaping these people.
They are who they are because of Him.
No other self-help guru did it — no TV Talk show host did this.
The Father God did it — give Him the glory — give Him the honor — give God all the credit.
So, we must thank God for the people in our lives.
There are certain spiritual traits in God’s people that we should openly acknowledge.
What are those traits?
Well, Paul gives us a list here in Second Thessalonians.
I mean, what does a healthy believer look like — one who’s worthy of thanks unto God?
Growing Faith as an Indicator of Spiritual Health
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly…
When faith is growing exceedingly as the scripture states in verse three, that's a strong sign of spiritual health.
The word ‘growing’ is one we want to look at, and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The three words ‘is growing abundantly’ are all one word in Greek.
You understand that your New Testament was written in Greek.
The word in the Greek language for ‘is growing abundantly’ means to grow but, with a bunch of adjectives amplifying.
Try to grow wonderfully, to grow way beyond measure, to increase abundantly, to increase beyond measure.
This kind of growth is a sign of spiritual health but it doesn’t imply that you’ve arrived.
It does mean that you’re headed upward in a compelling and notable way.
And that upward trajectory is worthy of thanks unto God.
1 Corinthians 12:26–27 (ESV) — 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
The individual member affects the whole.
Think about that.
Per recent stats, there are 2.4 billion Christians on Planet Earth.
So, the body of Christ is well over 2 billion strong [re all of these believers spiritually healthy?]
One person, positive or negative, affects the whole body.
One individual affects 2 billion — that’s a staggering thought.
You see this same principle of one affecting the many in other areas as well.
When one person gives their heart to Jesus, all of heaven rejoices.
One person affects the many.
Luke 15:7 (ESV) — 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
You are chosen, special, and significant.
What goes on with you is vital.
If you suffer, we all suffer together; if you are honored, we all rejoice together.
You’re important, you’re vital, you’re necessary.
What goes on with you matters.
So, a spiritually healthy Jesus follower is one whose faith is growing noticeably.
That in turn, is a direct reflection on God.
Hebrews 12:2–3 (ESV) — 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith.
The Greek word ‘founder’ means originator in Greek Lexicons.
It is a word with great depth.
The word comprises ago “to lead,” and arche, “the first.”
And so, it means the first to lead, or “the chief leader, one that takes the lead in anything and thus furnishes the example.”[2. Wuest]
Jesus is the first or the chief leader of the faith.
Just this single Greek word inspired by the Holy Spirit invalidates all the other religions' way of trying to get to God.
John 14:6 (ESV) — 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
That’s pretty plain, wouldn’t you say?
You must have help not to understand that Jesus is the only way.
People, millions of them, are trying to get around this most basic statement that fell from the lips of the Immaculate Son of God.
They think it’s not fair — they think it’s not right.
Well, it’s not my fault Jesus is the Way.
I didn’t make Him the way.
The God you’re trying to reach made Him the Way.
If Jesus is the Way, are you sure and He is, that means there is no other chief leader.
There is no other way to get to God.
The word ‘perfecter’ means one who brings something to a successful conclusion, to finish, to make perfect or complete.
So if a person has ‘faith growing abundantly’, Jesus is both the source and the reason for this progress.
He is the originator and the one who makes faith perfect or complete.
Since that’s true, He is the one deserving of praise unto Him.
So you see, we give thanks to God when a brother has faith that is growing abundantly.
That’s a spiritually healthy believer and we know Jesus is at the heart of that.
So, the praise goes to God.
Increasing in Love as an Indicator of Spiritual Health
Let’s talk about another indicator of spiritual health: walking in love.
Let’s reread what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 1:3.
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because… the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
If you recall, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians in their love walk.
1 Thessalonians 4:9–12 (ESV) — 9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
So, in the first letter, Paul urges the brethren to love one another and to do so more and more.
And in the second letter, one year later, Paul acknowledges that the Thessalonians did increase their love walk and because they did, — well we ought to thank the Lord for this.
So, it’s possible to increase in love.
Now, let’s talk about increasing in love — let’s go over that for a minute.
Increasing in love doesn’t mean you have more love.
Romans 5:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
'The love of God has been poured into your hearts' — ‘has been’ is past tense.
That means this pouring-out event has already occurred.
When did this happen?
Well, Romans five says, — when ‘the Holy Spirit has been given to us.’
When did that occur? — When was the Holy Spirit given to us?
That happened when you received Jesus into your heart.
That occurred when you made Jesus the Lord of your life.
So, the Lordship of Jesus is the Lordship of love.
That's a spiritually healthy outlook.
Now, if you are born again and the love of God has been ‘past tense’ shed abroad in your hearts — how much of this love did you receive?
A little pinch of love that would allow you to forgive a grasshopper?
What about a jar of love that would allow you to forgive someone who cut you off in traffic?
Did you receive a little more — maybe a barrel of love that would allow you to forgive someone who stole something from you?
Or a tractor-trailer load that would allow you to forgive a rapist or a murderer who sinned against you?
Or could it be that you received all the love of God?
Listen to the scripture — ‘THE love of God has been shed abroad in your heart’ — that means all of it.
God can’t give you any more love than you have already received.
What must take place is ‘a learning to develop what you already possess.’
That development is increasing in love.
One gentleman wrote it this way and what he said is right and with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.
This increase [in love] is “diffusive rather than organic”; i.e., it does not mean that each of them has “more” love, but that the love they do have is increasingly evident among them.[3. O’Brien - NICNT - Gordon Fee]
Paul inspired the young believers to increase, and now, one year later, their increase is noticeable.
Increasing in love is a spiritual health indicator.
That should encourage you.
Because it means that it’s possible to increase — it’s possible to grow and develop personally and as a group.
IIncreasing in Love as a Group: An Indicator of Spiritual Health
I’ve been saying this for years — everyone needs a group — everyone needs a company of believers that think like they think — that mind the same things — that have one heart and one soul to know God and do His will.
Being part of a group is one sign of a spiritually health believer.
You remember the man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple who was healed by the power of God?
That story is located in the third chapter of the book of Acts.
Do you also recall how the religious crowd threatened the disciples for using of Jesus’ Name?
Acts 4:16 picks this up.
Acts 4:16–23 (KJV 1900) — Saying, What shall we [the religious crowd] do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. 17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them [disciples], that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. 18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. 22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed. 23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
You see, the disciples had their own group — their own company.
Again, we're talking about spiritual health.
The disciples, when they were let go, went to see them — that means they had a known meeting place for this company.
Acts 5:12 (ESV) — 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.
Solomon’s Portico or porch — note that — it was inside the Temple - like the outer courtyard area.
Acts 3:1–11 (ESV) — 1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.
There it is again — Solomon’s Portico.
Did you know Jesus spent time there?
John 10:22–23 (ESV) — 22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
Same place - Solomon’s porch. - That was the meeting place for this company of believers.
They were growing in faith — they were walking in love.
These Thessalonians were excelling in their walk and that’s a spiritual indicator of a healthy believer.
There are a couple of other things Paul mentioned as worthy of thanks unto God.
The Thessalonians were steadfast in persecution.
They wouldn’t turn their faith loose.
They were walking in enduarance but we don’t have time to talk about all of that because we are out of time.
Now Father God, thank you today. Increasing in faith and love and being spritually healthy is so wonderful. It feels so good way down in our hearts. Thank you, oh Father of Spirits for this marvelous walk. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God?
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.
🎧 Suggested Episode
If you found this teaching on the call of God helpful, check out “How to Grow in Faith: Five Questions to Ask” — it builds on today’s lesson.
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