The Apostle Paul gave Christians for all time the foundation for mental health: “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17-18). By comparing eating and drinking physical things with the eternal state of being one spirit with God ( 1 Corinthians 6:17), Paul reminds us of what Christ promised: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56), and “the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). 

 The righteousness of Christ is the source of peace and joy in the saint. Paul tells us the physical world is nothing compared to knowing Him: “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness” (Philippians 3:8-9). “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). 

 It’s a constant battle to keep the focus on Christ and His righteousness. The saint who dwells on his remaining corruption can “burn out” when he’s “forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). Whatever afflicts you, though Satan assaults, though God causes or allows many disappointments on the way to Heaven, none of it has anything to do with where you’re going. Christ settled that on the cross when He said, "It is finished!" and if it’s finished, then you’re complete in Him, and should “rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). 

 The holiest saints are those who consciously abide in Christ's righteousness. When the believer says, "I live on Christ alone; I rest on Him solely for salvation; and I believe that, however unworthy, I’m still saved in Jesus", there rises a holy boldness to take every thought captive. “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:14-15).