Hot Topics 2: Mental Health

This week’s Hot Topic is the Christian and Mental Health. Can a Christian struggle with anxiety and depression or other mental illnesses? Didn’t Christ set us free from the bondage of sin? If so, why do so many Christians seem to struggle with these? To answer these, we need to think about a few things first.

Stigmatization of Mental Health Issues

Mental Health issues have been stigmatized for a long time in history, and only in the last few years has there been huge strides in changing the cultural perspective of mental illnesses. For far too long people have been hiding their mental struggles for fear of being ostracized because of them. When people hide their struggles, they try to carry the burden by themselves and then become overwhelmed by a growing struggle.

At the same time, there has been a similar opinion about going to see a pastor, counselor or psychologist, that only the really crazy people go there. Many people avoid going to talk to the trained professionals and spiritual leaders who can help them for fear of what other people might think. I am thankful for the growing trend that helps people see that going to a counselor for mental illness is just like going to a medical doctor for a physical illness.

These are two of the battles we face when talking about Mental Health: it’s good to talk about your mental health, and it’s good to go to a trained pastor, counselor or phycologist to get help. What we will quickly realize is talking openly will help lead to healing, but staying silent and isolated will only make it worse.

Broken People in a Broken World

It’s good to talk about and engage the topic of Mental Health. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that sin came into the world by disobedience. Sin brought with it death and separation from God (Romans 5:12). Sin broke the relationship we were created to have.

Sin brought fragility to our physical bodies, so sickness, disease, and death entered the world. Sin also corrupted our emotions and our mental faculties. Our hearts and minds have also become fragile and damaged by sin, causing our feelings to be impure and our thoughts to be perverted. I don’t mean that just in a sexual sense, but in our sinful state, we are not free to be pure of heart and mind because of Sin. Everything we do, say, think or feel is tainted by our sin nature (Jeremiah 17:9).

Because we are broken people living in a broken world, we will struggle to put all the pieces together until the day Christ returns and makes all things new. Jesus came the first time to bring peace and salvation to all who believe that he rose again from the dead and that He is Lord (Romans 10:9-10). As believers, we have a war waging inside of us between the old sinful nature and the new nature we have in Christ (Romans 7). Part of that war means we will face mental illness and struggles in this life.

We Are Human

As we continue to try to understand Mental Health issues and the Christian, we need to understand that anxiety and depression are not always sin. It’s not helpful to tell someone who is struggling with anxiety or depression to stop sinning, repent, pray and read your Bible more and you’ll be fine. Although it is good and right to stop sinning, repent, pray and read the Bible, there is often things going on with the struggles of anxiety and depression that need a listening ear, a friend, and time.

You are human. Being human means you are a physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social being. They way these interrelate is a vast study that is very complicated. Understanding that when one area is out of sorts, it messes with the other areas. At times, anxiety and depression can be a symptom of lack of sleep, hunger, dehydration or some other physical issue. Depression or anxiety can stem from an emotional trauma or sudden loss. The can also be the result of believing lies about yourself or God.

Reminding yourself that you are human and frail (Psalm 103) is a healthy step in overcoming depression and anxiety.

Although depression and anxiety are not always sinful, sometimes they are the result of unconfessed sin in your life. As one writer put it, “sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.” Never underestimate the power of unconfessed sin, rather learn to live a repentant lifestyle and seek out those who can help you overcome sin (1 John 1:9; James 5:16).

Jesus said:

Let’s turn to Jesus’ sermon on the mount and read about what He says about anxiety and fear. My focus will be on Matthew 6:25-33, but I put in the context to help us understand what’s going on.

Matthew 6:19–34

[19] “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[22] “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, [23] but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

[24] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

If you are an anxious person, how helpful is it for someone to tell you “stop being anxious”? Not very, right? You want to stop being anxious, but it is hard to stop. I wanted you to read 19-24 to help us see what someone is thinking of and pursuing that leads to the anxiety that Jesus is talking about.

If you are caught up in materialism and living your best life now, you will be anxious about how you will make enough money and get more stuff (19). Instead, gain an eternal perspective on this life and the next, which will reshape your priorities and decisions you will make (20-21).

When your put before yourself good and healthy truths, you will be healthy, but when you allow falsehood and lies to distract you, you will be unhealthy (22-22). You can’t have it both ways, you cannot seek to honor God and prioritize this world (23-24).

Jesus is telling us that it doesn’t make sense for a believer to put their hope in the temporal things of this life, which will only fade. We know they will fade or perish and that’s why we become so anxious about our stuff. The more we love things, the more they will own us. The more we love God, the less we will worry about things.

When I first started driving cars, I had a bunch of junk cars. I bought my first car for $350 and it had several holes in it. I could tell you lots of stories of the junk cars me and my siblings drove…all character building stories. I didn’t realize how much of a blessing driving an old junker really was until later.

When I bought a newer car, I began to realize that I owed a lot of money for this car. My insurance went up. I began worrying about getting in an accident or dinging the car. It was a big change for me and a big chunk of my money went to keeping this car.

One day I was driving along Bath road in Cuyahoga Falls, when the guy in front of me suddenly slammed on his breaks in order to make a left turn. I had given myself plenty of distance, but it was wet and slick out. I hit the brakes and realized I was going to hit that guy unless I did something. I decided to try to swerve around him through the ditch. Unfortunately, that idea was better in my head than in reality. I hit a man hole cover and totaled my car.

What surprised me the most was my attitude after the fact. I still owed money on the car, but I realized it was just a car. I wasn’t hurt. Nobody else was hurt. The car can be replaced. I had a peace that I didn’t expect. I had thought I would be mad, but I wasn’t. I realized that God was my hope, not my car. It was His work in me that gave me the right perspective.

Jesus doesn’t want us to obsess over material possessions, what we wear, what we drive, what we accessorize with, to the point that we are anxious about them. It’s not bad to have a car, or a house, or an iPhone, or etc. It is bad when your possession has you.

Jesus wants you to seek first His kingdom, what does that mean?

Seek your relationship with Christ above all else, learn to love Him with all your heart, mind, strength and soul, as commanded, and watch how He transforms you from an anxious person to a person whose confidence is in Christ.

Now I believe Jesus is talking about one kind of anxiety specifically in this passage, but I think there are principles that apply to other types of anxiety.

The Basic Questions:

What are you anxious about? List out all thing anxieties you have.

The Priority Questions:

What are you valuing right now? What is consuming your thoughts?

The Focus Questions:

What is your focus on? What is the truth you are holding onto? How does that compare to what the Bible tells us? How is this competing against or supporting your faith in Jesus?

The Perspective Questions:

Look at how God is working around you. What is He doing? How is your anxiety contributing or distracting to this? How is your thinking the same as or different from the world?

The Heart Check Questions:

Are you seeking Jesus above all else? Are you trusting Him for His provisions?

I have barely even begun to scratch the surface of the issue of anxiety, let alone depression. I unfortunately have to bring this blog post to an end today.  I hope to wrap it up with a few thoughts that are helpful.

Mental Health is an important topic that we need to talk more openly about. We need to develop a community of trust that allows each other to speak about our mental struggles vulnerably and without fear of rejection. We need to carry each other’s burdens and encourage each other to talk to the right people to get help through the difficult times.

We need to remind each other that we are only human and we live in a broken world. Things are not as they ought to be because of sin, but Jesus came to bring healing and peace. In Christ we have the hope of glory and the power of the Holy Spirit. We can be overcomers if we turn our hearts and mind to His truth.

Here are some amazing truths to focus on: Phil 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7; John 14:27; 2 Timothy 1:7; Isaiah 41:10; Galatians 5:22-23; Matt 11:28-30; Phil 4:8; 2 Cor 10:5

Fill your mind and your eyes with Christ. You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). You do not have to earn favor with God, Jesus already did that, you have to rest in Him.

Cameron Cole said it this way: “The Gospel is rest, the Gospel means you don’t have to carry your burden, the Gospel means you never have to prove yourself again.”

May your anxious mind find rest in Christ today.