I think it very important that we separate matters of medical illness and matters of spiritual health. There are medical issues and they should be dealt with through a medical doctor. There is a complex interplay between the body and the spirit. Often, problems that have a spiritual origin end up having a chemical effect and an overall treatment may involve medication. But except in the rare cases where someone has a real medical issue, medication is at best a way of managing symptoms so that a solution may be worked out. Medication is usually not the solution. Our problem today is that we are an incredibly medicated people. No one is even allowed to cry anymore; to avoid the pain of life, and instead of taking our pain to a loving God, we just smooth people over medically. Well not me. I want to cry. And I want to laugh.
Now about depression, I would not even think of giving detailed advice. One should see his or her pastor and talk it through with him. But let me make some broad observations. We live in a society that is deeply marked by sin and is structured in a way that is devastating to the average human heart. People no longer have real friendships, and so they are lonely. We have such deep sin in so many families, that many of us struggle with the effects. Take the case of childhood sexual abuse -- it is shocking to learn how many people were sexually abused as children. Obviously, this leaves scars on their souls. Our work places us under an unhealthy amount of stress. Our society no longer values marriage. We have men and women who are single into their 30's and 40's and beyond. What did God say, “This is not good.” So there is sexual frustration, guilt, perversion, loneliness, an unhealthy focus on the self all the time. This is the society in which we live. It is profoundly unhealthy and many people will suffer from depression.
The specifics of each person's life are different. But just take a look at that list. It may be that you are living a spiritually and emotionally unhealthy life. What a great thing it is that you are a Christian. If you have sorrow, are you taking your sorrow to God? I have known people who have lost children and they grieved for years. But is that wrong? Should we just dope them up? What's wrong with tears? If I lose a child, I don't want to lose my grief. But I do want it sanctified by the grace of God, so I should take my grief, my cares, and my anxiety to him. I am not yet completely over the death of my father, who died three years ago. I sometimes cry about it right out of the blue. But that is real life. That is being a real human being. It draws me nearer to God and it makes me realize my need for His grace and it reminds me that my home is not here but in the age to come.
So I ask: are you taking your depression and grief to God? 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our anxieties on him “because he cares for you.” God wants you to learn that through your sorrows. Paul wrote that he gave up everything "that I might know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Phil. 3:10). Are you using your sorrows to bring you closer to Jesus?
Are you living a spiritual life in communion with God? If not, then you need to use your struggles to drive you to him. God is our Savior and He alone.
Now, about bipolarism. According to the psychologists, practically everybody is bi-polar these days. If you're a little moody, you are bi-polar. What I see all the time is people get a diagnosis, they get medication, and they immediately define their whole existence in light of this supposed defect in their mind. They lose all sense of responsibility. They lose all hope. They are just stuck being bi-polar, they live on an emotionally and spiritually low plane, and they medicate themselves. I strongly suspect that this is more about the medical profession today than anything else. Who among us isn't a little mentally ill? Is there one of us who doesn't have some problem that could be classified and medicated? But I don't want to live that way. I want to live by the Spirit and bear the Spirit's fruit in my broken, twisted heart. And to God be the glory.
Now, about everything I've said -- remember that I don't know each individual situation. You may bear the chemical effects of mental ill-health that really has spiritual roots, but the chemical effects are there anyway. I am not qualified to tell you not to take medication. I have known Christians who developed such a chemical problem (because of sin -- theirs and others as it effected their minds) that when they went off their medication they became suicidal. So I am not telling you to go against your physician's advice. But I am alerting you to a wholesale paradigm that is counter to the Bible's view of man. Today's gospel comes in a bottle. Even Christian counselors are knee-deep in this. And a lot of it is economic -- there's a lot of money to be made this way. But the gospel I believe in is not in a bottle. It is in Jesus Christ, who has power to lead me through the sorrows and turmoil of life. Paul said, "The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Notice that Paul lived this life "in the flesh" -- which means his twisted, mentally dysfunctional existence just like ours. But he lived it by faith in Christ and he knew the power of Christ for joy and hope and love.
So ask yourself, "Am I walking close to God in prayer and in the Spirit? Do I have joy and hope and love that come from him? If not, why not? It may be that you are not relying on Him or that you have compromised with sin. The effects of that might fit the bi-polar classification -- but the problem may be sin or spiritual laziness. Then, am I living my life in a foolish way? Do I have friends? Am I married, as I probably should be? If I am married, are my wife and I ministering one to another in love? Am I greedy for money or too ambitious for praise, and so I accept too much stress? The list goes on. So feel free to see a doctor, but ask yourself things like this, too.
Rev. Richard Phillips is the chair of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology and senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church Coral Springs, Margate, Florida
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