Results positive correlation between spiritual maturity and ability to cope with stress

• Following Jesus is a good way to manage stress
• Multivariate analysis revealed other correlations:
  • Maturity = not how long a person was a Christian or how regularly they attended church but how engaged they were in Christian activity
  • how practical their faith – applied Christianity rather than institutional Christianity
  • A strong positive correlation between self-acceptance and healthy stress management.

• We all experience stress
• Stress is not necessarily unhealthy
  • Staked tree example - stressors strengthen us and provide opportunity for us to apply kingdom principles - eg love those who hurt you, patience, etc
• Distinction between experiencing stress and being stressed

• At the age of 12 Jesus had a very clear understanding of who he was – I must be about my father’s business (Luke 2:49)
• Jesus was self-aware – he knew who he was
• Self-honesty = self-awareness = understanding your uniqueness
• Discover your gifts

• Jesus embraced his uniqueness
• Luke 4:16-21
  
  He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
• Jesus said: "love others as you love yourself"
• How you function relationally depends on how you view yourself
• Loving oneself before you can love others – many people don't even like who they are
• Self-rejection is fuelled by false expectations and comparisons with others
• Know yourself – accept yourself – like yourself – love yourself as Christ loves you
• Be what God designed you to be
• Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”
• Be the best version of you – eg: Little Aths
• You don't need to be better than anyone else; you just need to be better than you used to be.
• Jesus doesn’t want to change who you are, he wants you to be all that you were uniquely designed to be.

• Jesus not only knew but acted on his calling and purpose
• Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
• Jesus was exhausted – but he persevered because of his purpose
• Weariness is not burn-out
• Burn-out = loss of meaning and purpose
• Specific purpose – deployment of yourself
• Use your gifts
• Be good stewards of time, talent, treasure and testimony

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – Jesus was the most self-actualised person that ever lived
  • Physiological Needs
  • Safety Needs
  • Love/Belonging
  • Self-Esteem (Self-acceptance and self-valuing)
  • Self-Actualization
• Maslow conclusion in his study of humankind – Jesus was the most self-actualised person that ever lived
• Jesus said he came to give life and give it to the full (John 10:10)