Since World War II, the number of American psychiatrists has multiplied astronomically, so as to indicate the disorder of many American lives today. Multiplying the number of psychiatrists is not the answer to our problems. Dr. J. A. Hadfield, one of England’s foremost psychiatrists, once said: “Speaking as a student of psychotherapy who, as such, has no concern with theology, I am convinced that the Christian religion is one of the most potent influences for producing that harmony, peace of mind, and confidence of soul needed to bring health to a large proportion of nervous patients.”
Jesus gave us the formula for a well-ordered life when he said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:36-39). In these verses Jesus speaks of three loves—love for God, love for others, and love for self. This is the content and order to a well-balanced life.
The most important thing in a well-balanced life is a love for God. Paul Tournier, a Swiss psychiatrist, said in his book The Meaning of Persons, “Further, I have a threefold vocation: medical, psychological, and spiritual. It is bad enough to fall into a technical routine as a doctor or as a psychologist; it is much worse to turn soul-healing into a matter of routine. I confess that it is this spiritual vocation which interests me most, for the very reason that all my experience has taught me the limitations of medicine and of psychology, and because the supreme and universal need of men is to find God.”
The second ingredient of a balanced life is love for others. Novelist E. M. Forster agreed with Christ when he said: “One must be fond of people and trust them, if one is not to make a mess of life.” Our love for God must issue forth into love for others. Are you living a well-ordered life? You can begin today to make great strides in that direction.