Miserable multifaceted Christians

As a society, and as churches we so often do not do a good job of helping people with depression or other mental illnesses.

I want to talk about some things I've learnt about how we can do better. I have in mind particularly Christians who have depression which is often accompanied by a lack of assurance. In fact these two things often feed off each other. I'm sorry for the narrow focus, but that is where most of my experience is.

I think we can mess up by either treating this sort of misery purely as an illness requiring professional help and medication or as purely 'spiritual' problem requiring preaching the word of the gospel into people's lives. However, the medical profession almost never addresses the 'spiritual' questions because it does not share the beliefs of the sufferer. The church can do far more than the medical profession can ever do. Whereas the church cannot prescribe medication and provide professional advice it can do a lot to address both the problem of belief and the illness (although you cannot really separate them).

To move out of misery we have to recognise that human-beings are multifaceted and take an approach which responds to that.

However the first and most important step for the miserable Christian is to step outside of his/herself. Otherwise you will only reinforce the position you are in. Once you step outside of yourself then address yourself and the different aspects of your being that make you up (these are a bit schematic and overlap so forgive me):

1. Intellectual beings

Conservative Evangelicals are probably unlikely to forget this. However, it is essential to address false beliefs that we are carrying which may lead to our lack of assurance, and remind ourselves of what we may have forgotten. Particularly helpful is to remember a few different aspects of (justification by) faith:

(a) faith => we are not saved by works
(b) faith => we are not saved by our feelings
(c) faith => our hope is future. We must not expect to experience salvation fully now (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:12).

Really, people can say they believe this, but probe just a little in your heart and others and you see we often doubt it, and that is cancerous.

2. Emotional beings

Preaching to ourselves must not just be intellectual. It must involve mediating and savouring truths. Turning over and over in our minds and hearts how good God is towards us in his beloved Son. However, emotions are not all so rational. That is why Luther so often suggests listening to music to troubled friends. Entertainment (not just electronic, but physical and social) has a amazing power to change our mood all by itself.

3. Social beings

This was also a favourite suggestion of Luther. Spend some time with friends. Don't succumb to extremely strong desire to hide away and avoid company. Seek it out for both light conversation and to talk about your struggles so they can encourage you. Be open to hearing their encouragement, and believe their encouragement and absolving words to have all the authority of Christ's (Matthew 18:18). To the friend of a miserable Christian, remember one of the most helpful things you can do is stick by them. Just being there is essential. Keep seeing your friend regularly even though frankly it can be an incredibly dispiriting experience for you.

4. Physical beings

Our physical health has a remarkable power to affect our psychological and spiritual health. Ensure that you get enough sleep, but don't sleep too much. Ensure you get exercise, but not too much. Identify other things that affect you physically (food you eat, coffee, Coca-cola [I kid you not]) and adapt your behaviour. Finally, professional medical advice, and prescribed medication often has an essential role to play in controlling our chemical balances.

5. Creaturely beings

We did not create ourself and we cannot heal ourself either. God is in ultimate control despite the devil's power, and so prayer is probably the most important thing we can do for ourselves, and others to do for us.

I probably ought to say something about 'spiritual warfare' and habits as well, but that will do. I probably also ought to say that often there is no 'cure' for the misery, and it never goes away. It can sometimes only be kept under control. Circumstances and illness bring out our lack of faith in making us doubt our assurance. However, that is not to say that happy Christians are any more holy for their happiness. It may be that their happiness would crumble much more easily if it had to face difficult experiences.

PS sorry Chris this is not the post I promised about creation, I'll do that one next but it will take longer to write.