An interview with Peter Scazzero of the Life Church in New York yielded an insight that my colleagues need to hear. We need leaders who see to their spiritual maturity via their emotional health.
Many leaders might think if they were more consistent about prayer and Bible study that their inner lives would flourish. How can that not be enough? What more did you do?
It wasn’t enough. I started going to Christian counseling for the first time. That was very humbling. I didn’t even really believe in Christian counseling at the time, much less that I needed it.
I also started reading Henri Nouwen and other writers who were outside the box for me. I began learning about the importance of Lamentations and Psalms. I spent time looking at my family of origin, how it impacted who I am today, how it affected the way I did ministry. As I went on this journey, just looking at my own life, I started to realize I wasn’t such a lovely person on the inside. Here I’d been looking at everyone else, thinking they were the ones who needed to change. But I needed to change first.
When Geri called my bluff, basically telling me "you’re not practicing what you preach," it was difficult. But out of that crucible of pain we saw the missing link to transformation. We realized we were missing something, and it was destroying us.
That was the beginning of emotional health, emotionally healthy spirituality. It has a lot of components, but the basic idea is this: emotional health and spiritual maturity can’t be separated. You cannot be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. For example, if you’re not approachable, kind, loving, gentle, warm, it doesn’t matter how much Bible you know, how gifted you are. You’re not mature spiritually
Source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/summer/emotionalstability.html?start=2