(This article also includes a podcast discussion. Listen on your Apple or Android podcast app.)
My last article was a tough one, taking a very heavy and honest look at my own mental health history and trying to understand that my problem, at the root, was spiritual. Psychology could only look at surface-level symptoms, but only Christ could show the true source that began in my heart and manifested itself in different ways. Today will be filled with hope as we look at the true solution to so many of our problems.
(If you would like to see how I’ve arrived at the conclusions of this article, please check out parts one, two, three, and four.)
Have a little…
If the source of so many of our problems begin in the heart, then the solution needs to address that as well. However, our broken hearts cannot be mended while they’re still dead in sin. Nothing can take a heart that’s turned against God and start killing the individual sin problems because that heart knows how to do nothing but harbor sin. Before we can get our heart fixed, we first need to deal with our greatest problem of all – how our sin has separated us from God, and our need for Christ to pay for our sins. We need faith in our savior.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:10)
Once we are a child of God, we need to believe that Christ is enough for us. Nothing else can offer salvation, either from sin or the source of sinful behavior. Christ isn’t a means to a better life, our freedom from guilt, or a “get out of Hell free” card. He is God, the creator and sustainer of the universe. Nothing is beyond His power, and no child of God is beyond His ability to rescue. Christ doesn’t just save us from the judgment of our sin, but also sets us free from any sin that still exists in our life after salvation. We need faith in our savior’s power and desire to save us from all sin at all times.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Trusting that Christ has the power to free us from sin, we can also rely on the source of our truth – the Bible. If we trust what it says about salvation, then we must trust what it says about everything. As we’ll see, the Bible has a lot to say about those very problems that psychology is happy to diagnose through a worldview that has no room for God. If we want Christ to kill sin in our lives, we must have faith that the Bible is enough for everything important in our lives, not just salvation.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Practical application
Let’s look at a few areas where God’s word addresses problems that the world would tell us is purely a physical or emotional problem, ones we can’t help but can certainly try to cope with. Problems that, if we’re honest, can actually become a part of our identity.
Anger
Our emotions can often seem out of control. Whether it’s a bad day, we have a “short fuse,” or we live a life of bitterness, our anger doesn’t just hurt us but those around us. When we look at God’s word, we see that anger isn’t just a negative character trait – a heart that is angry can’t be distinguished from a heart that wants to murder.
You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (Matthew 5:21-22)
This is further clarified by John.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15)
But we often feel like victims of our anger. After all, no one really wants to yell at someone made in the image of God, throw and kick things, or however else we vent our anger. Yet if we believe God’s word, we realize that anger isn’t our issue, but greed, entitlement, and pride. Further, our anger is evidence that we are loving things in the world more than we’re loving and pursuing our savior.
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Freedom from anger isn’t found in counting techniques, time away, or anything else the world offers. Instead, our anger will die when our lusts and desires are submitted to Christ as we look to Him as our source of pleasure, not sex, relationships, money, relaxation, or anything else we chase in the pursuit of satisfying our wants.
Addictions
Addiction can be a tricky subject. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, porn, or playing Fortnite (yes, really), the wide variety of addictions aren’t as different as they may seem. Although there’s science to suggest a biological change when it comes to certain addictions, it’s our hearts that lead us into it, and it’s our hearts that keep us there. Why? Because human beings are made to worship and depend on something.
Addictions begin with a person seeking salvation from something. Whether it’s boredom, a lack of control, or a life filled with abuse, what begins as a means of escaping unhappiness quickly turns into dependance. We depend on something to comfort, distract, or bring us pleasure. We put ourselves under its control, allowing it to dictate where and when we find satisfaction.
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
The core of addiction is being enslaved to something. Those without Christ cannot help but submit themselves to sin, pursuing whatever aspect of it appeals to their dead hearts. Yet for those who are made alive through Christ, we have a choice.
In humility we can submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to lead us to true satisfaction in Jesus Christ. Or we can choose to submit to our own desires, pursuing those very things that once put us under the wrath of God. Freedom from addiction means embracing the freedom to love God, learning why satisfaction in Him far outweighs (and outlasts) any satisfaction the world can offer.
Depression
In light of history, diagnosing depression is relatively new. It’s gone by many names: melancholy, the blues, or “the black dog” from men like Winston Churchill and Charles Spurgeon. However, depression is simply a completed puzzle made of many smaller pieces. Hopelessness, sorrow, self-doubt, self-condemnation, worry, and even a desire to cease existing in a world with those ever-present feelings.
Yet depression isn’t a new phenomenon. When Cain’s offering to God was rejected, Cain was crestfallen. He was angry, but also depressed. And in that moment, God told Caint he source of this anger and depression was his sin.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)
Likewise, King David also dealt with depression. He describes it as his vitality wasting away, and having God’s heavy hand upon him. Like Cain, and like my own story, the source of his suffering was evident.
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalms 32:3-5)
Bear in mind that I don’t point this out as an outside observer who can’t empathize. I say it as someone who felt daily depression for 18 years. I know it feels like you can’t catch your breath, no matter how hard you try. It’s a smothering darkness that suffocates you while everyone tells you to “Just try to be happy.”
But just like anger and addiction, depression finds its root in our hearts. It traces itself to fear as we look at life and feel so small, insignificant, and helpless in our situation. It stems from a hopelessness as we feel powerless against the world and even our own minds. Depression comes from an over-reliance on our own minds as we continually try, and fail, to find joy and satisfaction.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
If depression is the result of hopelessness, then we need to rely on Him who gives us reason to rejoice in any situation. If we are overwhelmed by the barrage of daily living, we can rest in the one whose power extends beyond the seeming-randomness of the world. When we release our need to find happiness in a world of temporary enjoyment, then we can truly pursue Jesus Christ, an unfailing and never-ending source of contentment and satisfaction.
Unending problems, one rescuer
Many see “look to Jesus” as a copout. And if we’re honest, it often is. Mental health is a wildly uncomfortable subject. In a culture where we’re so emotionally isolated, being open with our struggles causes many to shift uncomfortably and find a polite way to offer a solution so they can bail out of the conversation. And sadly, people are told to pray more, trust Jesus, and hope for the best.
I hope that’s not the message I’ve given, because that reaction offers as much hope as psychology. Whether it’s you or someone you know who is suffering, Christ can’t be treated like a magic word that can abrakadabra someone’s problems away.
Christ doesn’t want us to be better, He wants us to have faith in Him. Our purpose in life isn’t to walk around with our heads held high, but to walk in submission and obedience to Him. In following Christ, we’ll often find our problems fading to the background because, ultimately, our problems stem from us establishing ourselves as gods of our own lives.
We center our lives around the pursuit of happiness and pleasure, then find ourselves lost and broken when those things fail to give lasting satisfaction. We get angry when we don’t have what we want, become addicted to things that don’t deliver salvation from pain, and feel an overwhelming darkness as we walk through life feeling like we’ll never be happy again.
The solution isn’t better thinking, self affirmation, or even drugs. Those things can certainly help the symptoms, but they will never touch the true problem. Only Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the penalty and shackles of sin, can offer what we truly need.
Instead of working hard to feel better, we simply need to rest in the arms of Him who has power over sin. We don’t need to chase things the world tells us will make us happy, but instead need only pursue our glorious savior. We don’t need to hope for the best, because we have faith in the one who is the ultimate.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
