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Thinking Well About Mental Health

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BY BENJAMIN R. LEE, Assistant Pastor, Oakwood Presbyterian Church

     Leading up to this year’s Olympics in Japan the anticipation and expectation couldn’t have been much higher for the performance of our nation’s current most beloved Olympic athlete and world-renowned gymnast, Simone Biles. Most of us only watch gymnastics once every four years, but we were going to watch Simone Biles. It felt like a forgone conclusion that Simone was going to bring home gold medal after gold medal for the US. We were going to watch, that is, until Simone sent the sports media whirling when she dropped out of nearly all her scheduled events (she did go on to win bronze in the balance beam). It wasn’t a physical injury, though, that kept the world’s best gymnast off the floor. According to Simone and her team it was her “mental health” that necessitated stepping down from the competition.

     The backlash was immense. Simone Biles, arguably the greatest and most accomplished gymnast in history, was labelled weak and cowardly. She should have “toughed it out” to make the country proud, they said. You’ve heard the takes.

     The controversy got me wondering how we as Christians think about issues surrounding mental health. If you’re anything like me the situation at the Olympics probably sparked a conversation or two (more gracious than Simone’s harshest critics, I hope). Recent studies would suggest it’s an issue worth thinking about. Even prior to the COVID outbreak 19% of adults experienced some sort of mental health issue.[i] It’s only worsened over the last 18 months. If you want to find out for yourself just how real an issue this is, just call a counselor or psychologist around town and try to book an appointment. Mental health professionals are slammed with people looking for help. And this isn’t just an issue “out there” in the world. There are many people in own congregation who struggle through mental health issues on a regular basis.

     So, what should Christians think about mental health? How ought we to respond when we hear of a friend, a neighbor, a fellow church member who suffers from anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, PTSD, or any number of mental and emotional illnesses? Let me suggest four biblical truths to remember.

The Fall

     First, when you’re thinking about mental illness, remember the fall. Adam’s fall into sin and the subsequent curse God enacted on the universe hit the world with the force of an atomic bomb. Genesis 3 was a cataclysmic event that left not a single molecule in the entire cosmos unaffected by sin. On account of sin and its effects, the world “groans” as it remains in “bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:20-22). Since Genesis 3 we have existed in a disordered universe.

     We shouldn’t we be surprised then when we find our inner world likewise disordered. But that is often how we respond. We react to our own and other’s inner turmoil as if it’s not natural in a Genesis 3 world, as if somehow the fall hasn’t reached down into the depths of our being. But the examples left for us in the Psalms suggest the opposite. Heman the Ezrahite in Psalm 88 recounts the mental and emotional anguish he experienced “from [his] youth up” when his soul was “full of troubles.” The Psalms suggest that the experience of inner turmoil is the natural state of mankind under the fall.

     Nor should we assume that mental and emotional disorders, whether anxiety or schizophrenia, are the direct result of moral failure. All too often, though, we treat those with these disorders just like the disciples when they encountered the blind man, “Rabbi, who sinned that this man is depressed, this man or his parents?” A functional theology of the fall teaches us that mental and emotional disorders cannot be reduced merely to a “sin issue,” as they so often are. Heman’s song recounts no sin leading to his despair, yet darkness is his only friend (Psalm 88:18).

Common Grace

     Thinking well about the fall will help us think well about mental health, and we also need to remember common grace. The Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof teaches that God’s common grace, while not the grace that pardons sin, is the goodness of God in a fallen world ‘common’ to all men which makes “an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men.”[ii] In other words, through common grace God alleviates to some extent the cataclysmic effects of the fall that would otherwise render life in a fallen world unbearable. Simple gifts like food and music are common grace gifts that provide a limited amount of joy in life for all people, and so are things like technological and scientific advancement.

     The doctrine of common grace is critical to how we think about mental and emotional disorders. Just as common grace has afforded medical technology that can alleviate the effects of the fall on our bodies, so common grace has provided medications that can help alleviate the effects of the fall on our minds.

     Sometimes Christians are uncomfortable with using medication for mental and emotional disorders because it has been suggested that the “spiritual” means of healing is prayer and Bible study. These are crucial, no doubt. But reducing healing to Bible memorization most often leaves suffers stuck with excessive guilt because their continued turmoil means they must not be spiritual enough. It may be they need medication to help them get unstuck.

     Christians with a high view of common grace who suffer in these ways should be encouraged to consult their doctors and counselors about how the proper medication could aid their healing journey. If the idea of medication makes you nervous, think more deeply about common grace, and maybe try talking to a fellow believer who takes these medications. I know several folks at Oakwood who take them and would be happy to talk.

Sanctification

     There’s a funny (sad) idea floating around in evangelicalism that once you become a believer that your troubles will fade away, or that if you pray enough and read the Bible enough that you can be “fixed.” However, Paul prayed repeatedly for this “thorn” to be taken away to no avail (2 Corinthians 12:8). Heman said he called on the Lord every day, yet was still “afflicted” (Psalm 88:9,15).

     The idea that prayer and Bible study will fix your problems has more in common with the prosperity gospel than with biblical sanctification. The Bible doesn’t tell us that sanctification is a formula. It doesn’t tell us that all our troubles will go away if we do certain things. Instead, it tells us that God will use all our “thorns” to make us like Jesus.

     Here’s why this is important when considering mental health. If you’re a sufferer this means that your disorder is one of the means God is using to make you more like himself. So, if you don’t get “fixed,” if depression hangs on, if you’re still anxious, that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It may be that God allows that thorn to remain so that his power can be made perfect in your weakness (2 Cor. 12:10).

     If you don’t suffer in these ways this means that as you encounter Christians who struggle, don’t be confused when the problem doesn’t resolve right away, or if it continues even after counsel and medication. Instead, keep on encouraging them as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).

The Gospel

     The gospel is last on the list, but it’s of first importance. Yet it seems to be the gospel that is so often left out of the conversation. When I think about reactions to Simone Biles, what I hear are Pharisees looking down their noses at a girl whose struggle they refuse to understand, who with puffed up chests say they’d have buried the feelings if they were in her spot. I hear similar things from Christians who encounter sufferers: “Buck up. Read this Bible verse. Stop doubting. Just trust God.” Suffers often think the same about themselves: “I shouldn’t be so sad. Christians shouldn’t be anxious. I’ve got to do better.”

     But that’s the law. The law tells you over and over again what needs to be done. And let me tell you from personal experience, the law is of no use here. Healing begins with the gospel of free acceptance through Christ Jesus whose life, death, and resurrection have won for us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, regardless of our mental and emotional state. The gospel is the ultimate spiritual grace that provides sufferers with a consolation far surpassing anything even the common grace of medication can offer. Medication can silence anxiety long enough for us to hear that in Christ I have peace with God regardless of what I feel, and it has an answer for every disorder. Indeed, the gospel tells me that while my disorder may endure in this life, someday Jesus is coming back to re-order all of creation, including my inner world.

     The gospel is where the troubled must root themselves, and it is where we must take those who suffer. We move people toward healing not by giving them a list of things to do, but by pointing them to Christ who has already accomplished everything for them.

     Don’t be like the media pundits were with Simone Biles. Think well about mental health by thinking deeply about the fall, common grace, sanctification, and the gospel. And then, go and be Christ to sufferers.


[i] https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america

[ii] Berkhof, Louis., Systematic Theology, pp. 435, The Banner of Truth Trust (2005).

 

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Reflections on a Week with Middle Schoolers (and why I’d do it again)

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BY BENJAMIN R. LEE, Assistant Pastor, Oakwood Presbyterian Church

              I’m tired, ya’ll. Last week I traveled down to Covenant College at Lookout Mountain, Georgia to spend four days with 600 middle schoolers at The EDGE Conference – a conference organized by a group of PCA pastors geared specifically toward middle school students. Students from Oakwood and I met up with another group of students and leaders from New Covenant Fellowship PCA in Mechanicsburg for a week of non-stop goofiness and serious discipleship. We viewed our attendance at this year’s EDGE as kind of like a test run. We’d never been before so we thought we’d give it a try to discover if it might be a good addition to our youth ministry in years to come. Test runs like this are essential because, believe it or not, not all conferences are made the same. But let me tell you, The EDGE did not disappoint. After attending and having some time to reflect on the experience, I thought I’d share my thoughts on why I’m excited to take a whole lot more students (I hope) again in 2022.

              First, I want to express thanks to the Lord for His kind sovereignty in making this trip possible. We weren’t planning on doing any trips this summer with our youth. Budget restraints coming out of COVID left us with few options. But in God’s kindness, during lunch at a Presbytery meeting early this year I just so happened to sit with a guy I’d never met before who just so happened to be Joe Slack, the youth pastor at New Covenant. During lunch, we talked about what our respective youth groups were doing during the summer. Joe started talking about The EDGE. And he talked it up big, like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Joe has been attending the conference for 11 years now, and he had nothing but great things to say about it. When I told him we didn’t have any trips planned he said, “Hey, why don’t you just jump on our bus and ride down with us!” We don’t have transportation, so getting somewhere is our biggest obstacle to doing trips. Riding along with another church was the perfect solution. God is kind. After Presbytery I immediately began getting the word out and several students signed up.

              And wouldn’t you know it, it just so happens that, at least in my mind, one of the greatest benefits of the trip was the relationship that developed between Oakwood and New Covenant. What intrigued me so much about the possibility of attending the conference with New Covenant was the opportunity for our students to interact with other PCA kids – an opportunity they don’t get here in State College. Watching our students and New Covenant’s students interact and grow to love one another was a true joy. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn to say that all of our students developed new and genuinely deep friendships with kids from New Covenant. I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate on how beneficial it is for kids to have those kinds of relationships with other believers their own age. The impact is difficult to quantify. This opportunity wasn’t lost on me either. I found in the other pastor, Joe, not only a ministry mentor (and frankly, a youth ministry superhero), but a friend. We’ve already decided that our groups need to spend more time together. By God’s grace, you’ll be hearing the name New Covenant a lot more in the future. The relationships that came out of the EDGE were alone worth the price of admission.

              Another reason to attend the EDGE again is the opportunity for memory-making. As my new youth ministry hero told me, conferences like this one offer a student a memory on which to hang their hats. In other words, because it’s so intense and intentional the memories created will function as signposts in the life of a student. It’s something they will look back to as formative. It’s going to stand out as a time when they heard the gospel in a unique way in a particular place that made a lasting impact. Maybe you experienced something similar as a kid at a church camp or youth trip. You know the enduring significance of formative signposts when you grew deeply in your walk with the Lord or were challenged or impacted in some unique way. Ask any of the students who went to The EDGE and that’s the testimony you’ll hear. The EDGE wasn’t just summer fun. It was a signpost of God’s grace in their lives.

              The key that makes these signposts what they are is in the worship and intentional discipleship experienced at The EDGE. Each morning we gathered together with all 600 students for a time of corporate worship. This was followed by a series of sessions students could attend where they could learn about things like “how to read your Bible,” or “why we want to be liked and what the gospel has to say about it.” Then after a time for their own personal devotions, we broke up into small groups for discussion and reflection. And that was all before lunch! In the afternoon we participated in all kinds of funny games, like Color Fest (see pictures) and Water Fest (there was more mud than water). But then in the evening, we returned to the chapel again for worship and a sermon dedicated to sharing the gospel with students. On one of those nights, students were given an opportunity to respond in repentance and faith, and many did! Each night we met together as a group to discuss what we learned and share about what God was doing in our lives. To hear students open up and articulate some truly deep things God was doing in their hearts was amazing. Then we went to sleep and woke up to do it all again the next day! And I don’t even have space to mention all the personal conversations and discipleship opportunities that happened on the bus ride home!

              I’m not lying. I was dead tired when I finally plopped down in my comfy bed at home. The coffee I.V. drip still needs to kick in, but I’m doing it again next year, and I hope I can take a busload(s) of kids with me. Lord willing, we can join up once again with our new friends at New Covenant too. And hey, maybe you’ll want to volunteer to come and serve with me? Who knows? Maybe EDGE 2022 will be a signpost for you. If you want to hear more, come to talk to me, or better yet, talk to one of our students! And please, encourage more to sign up for next year!

             

             

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