Spiritual competence is the ability to discern truth and live it out as you grow emotionally healthy. To be secure in Christ is to be spiritually competent: knowing how to interpret Scripture and actively pursuing growth—not perfection, but the steady movement from self-deception toward truth.

Carl Jung put it this way: "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious" (Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 13). The key that makes this a spiritual endeavor and not a worldly one is knowing that God defines our true potential. To be that aware is only possible with God's divine help. If we want to know ourselves better, we must also know God better. When we know God better, we will also know ourselves better.

Each moment in life presents an opportunity to either improve your competence or to remain indifferent. Your choice won't change your worth before God, however, how you experience life will be vastly different.

Jung had another well-known phrase, "Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." It is profound but it is also somewhat cryptic. It's worth a deeper look. Put another way, Jung is saying you can either suffer legitimately or suffer neurosis (Jung, Psychology and Religion, 1938).