To Flourish (6/19)

The term, "flourish," can be applied to the Christian life, I believe, in a manner consistent with what Jesus taught in John 10:10 about the abundant life He promises. We can fulfill our potential in Christ as we, according to His teaching in John 15, abide in Him, drawing life and strength as branches connected to the vine. He teaches us in that chapter:
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

As believers, we can consider whether or not we are living up to our potential in Christ - not according to what is called, "human potential," but according to the will of God and His intent for us.

The word, "flourishing," has been applied on a grander scale, and Baylor University just released its Global Flourishing Study, commissioned by the University's Institute for Studies of Religion and its partners - and it has received coverage on "major media outlets," it notes on its website in an article that states:

Most attempts to measure happiness stop at a surface level. The Global Flourishing Study dives deeper, looking at not just feelings or wealth but all aspects of a person’s life. And it’s doing so on a grand scale, studying more than 200,000 individuals across 20 countries and five years. That allows researchers to crunch the numbers in a wide variety of ways (focusing on specific countries, age groups, religious beliefs, etc.). Nature, a leading international journal of science, published 35 different studies using just the first wave of data. That’s possible because the data is being made freely available to the public, allowing for better utilization of the findings worldwide.

The article relates:

From the first wave of data, three initial insights stand out:

• It’s not all about income. Many middle-income developing countries are doing better in terms of meaning, purpose and relationships than the richer developed world.
• Younger people are not doing as well as older people. Flourishing tends to increase with age, and in many countries, the youngest age group (18- to 24-year-olds) reported the lowest.
• Faith makes a big difference. Across almost all countries, religious service attendance appears to be an important element in flourishing, with especially strong associations even in the most secular societies.

The website, Nature, reported:

People from Indonesia provided the highest self-rated assessments on a broad range of indicators, whereas Japanese respondents’ ratings ranked lowest among the 22 countries surveyed on most indicators. More generally, people in high-income countries such as Sweden and the USA score higher on more material aspects of well-being, such as financial security. People in many middle-income countries, on the other hand, rate higher on prosocial behaviours, meaning and close relationships. This suggests that material and social aspects of flourishing do not necessarily align.

That article also provided more about the faith element, stating: "The first wave of results also highlights the role of spirituality: nearly one-third of participants reported attending religious services weekly or more, and such attendance was consistently associated with higher levels of well-being across countries."

American Bible Society, in last year's State of the Bible report, offered these data points abut faith and flourishing:

• In all areas of the Human Flourishing Index, Americans unaffiliated with any religion (Nones) score significantly lower than average. This includes reporting lower levels of hope and higher levels of stress...

It also reported:

• Practicing Christians rank higher in levels of human flourishing, including in metrics related to hope and stress, than non-committed groups of respondents. When considering spiritual vitality, more than half of those considered Practicing Christians are categorized as thriving (52%), while only 13% are in the two unhealthy categories. This indicates that faith and regular interaction with Scripture produce a sense of hope and peace not found elsewhere...

This is a statistical measurement of a Biblical principles - there is a relationship between faith and flourishing.  As Christians, our faith in Christ produces an attitude of hope in Him.  I contend that hope is not reliant on external factors, but on the internal presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts through Christ.

Those who don't identify with religion have a lower "index" of human flourishing. And, when you consider statistical data about the younger generations, especially Gen Z, it stands to reason that they would be facing more of the mental health problems that the Baylor study and ABS data indicate.  But, John Plake of the American Bible Society is quoted as saying: “For the last few years, we’ve reported some rather troubling statistics about Generation Z. As a group, these 18–27-year-olds are less connected with the church and the Bible than older generations. They also experience more stress and less hope,” adding, “But what about those in Gen Z who do engage with Scripture? Not only do they score higher on the Human Flourishing scale than other young adults who don’t read the Bible—but they have the highest score of any generation. There’s more research to be done here, but this suggests that the unique challenges keeping young adults from flourishing are countered by a regular connection with God in Scripture.”

This brings us back around to experiencing abundant life - and we realize that it's not related to the abundance of possessions, power, or prestige, but comes through abiding in Christ and appropriating the true spiritual resources that He has made available to us.  Our desire is not to attract or achieve fame and fortune, but to acquire the riches of the eternal kingdom of God, which are not tied to this world.