Depression is surging through the general population, affecting one in ten Americans. And while there are countless treatments for the disease, none are entirely satisfactory. Unfortunately, many Christians suffering from depression find little comfort in Sunday sermons. That’s because well-intentioned pastors often don’t understand that depression blocks faith.
What do I mean by saying that depression blocks faith? It’s common for people with a strong belief in God to experience a crisis of faith when going through depression. It’s as if depression obstructs one’s ability to have faith in God. This feeling is hard to describe, but anyone who’s suffered from a bout of depression will understand all too well.
Church Is Not Helping
So you’re a depressed Christian, and you think, “I’ll just force myself to go to church. The worship service will uplift me, and the pastor’s sermon will speak to me.” But at church, the pastor is preaching the importance of holding onto faith, no matter what. This message is appropriate in most cases, as faith is the linchpin for building a solid relationship with God. However, it’s inappropriate when dealing with depression because depression blocks faith.
Let’s examine how pastors preach Paul’s letter to the Romans to highlight this issue. In Romans 5, the apostle Paul explains what it means to lead a Christian life and how we are saved through faith in Jesus through God’s grace. Paul describes how Christians can effectively navigate through the trials and tribulations of life by holding on to faith.
Romans 5:1-5 and Faith
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5
Peace In The Storm?
Paul says it’s possible to feel God’s glory amid our suffering because suffering produces perseverance. In other words, we can maintain a sense of peace and joy no matter our circumstances by persevering in our faith. This is good advice, and pastors rightly preach the importance of faith to overcome trials. But Paul’s letter can be misapplied when counseling someone going through depression. Take, for example, this quote from a sermon of a well-regarded pastor on this passage from Romans.
“If something happens in your life that is hard and painful and frustrating and disappointing, and, by grace, your faith looks to Christ and to his power and his sufficiency and his fellowship and his wisdom and his love, and you don’t give in to bitterness and resentment and complaining, then your faith endures and perseveres.”
Depression Blocks Faith
The pastor’s explanation of Romans 5 falls short for those in depression because depression blocks faith. Depressed people are unable to access their faith. It’s not that depression destroys faith – it just hides it temporarily. Depression is like a mask that blinds one to the truth of God’s love. So when pastors preach Romans saying the antidote to life’s tribulations is to maintain one’s faith, this solution will not work for a depressed person.
Get Up And Walk
Imagine a pastor saying that the key to overcoming a particular hardship in life was to go outside and take a walk in the neighborhood – that with each long stride, you would regain the power to overcome your present obstacle. This advice would not work for someone with a leg injury who could not walk.
That’s what it feels like to preach faith to a depressed person. They can’t access faith. To make matters worse, the pastor quoted above admonishes his listeners not to give in to “bitterness and resentment and complaining,” for by resisting these tendencies, their faith will naturally endure. The depressed person hears, “If you weren’t so bitter you’d have more faith.”
No Faith, No Grace
Furthermore, to put the final nail in the coffin, he points out correctly (but inappropriately when dealing with depression) that faith is given by the grace of God. But, unfortunately, saying this to a depressed person makes the situation worse because now they feel that they’ve lost faith because God has cut off their grace!
A depressed person, by the very nature of their depression, is incapable of accessing their faith while they are in the grips of the illness. We often describe depression as persistent hopelessness, which embodies the loss of faith. So we need a workaround. The workaround for the leg-injured believer who needs to walk around the neighborhood would be to use a wheelchair. So what is the workaround for the depressed person?
The Way Out of Depression
As with all problems, Jesus is the answer. How can a depressed person manage through the tribulations of life when he finds his faith inaccessible? Jesus tells us to rejoice when our spirit is poor.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:3
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? For one thing, it’s OK when we find ourselves unable to access the faith we need to hold on to in times of trouble. It’s more than OK. It’s good. The weaker we are, the better, for that weakness reinforces our need for God. What makes someone poor in spirit? They lack the resources to access their spirit. When you lack the ability to tap into the Holy Spirit, you are, by definition, lacking in faith and hope. Isn’t that what a depressed person feels – faithless and hopeless?
Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
But Jesus takes this hopeless situation and turns it around. He declares that you are blessed when you feel hopeless because it tells him (Jesus) and reminds you that you are utterly dependent on God. So while depression blocks faith, it also signifies your poor spirit. The faith you feel in good times is not your own – it is never due to your strength. When we are healthy, it’s easy to fool ourselves into believing that our faith is a tribute to our strength. The upside of being poor in spirit is that we finally have no illusions about the source of our faith – it is a gift from God – always has been and always will be.
The workaround for the depressed person, the antidote to lost faith, is knowing you are poor in spirit. And Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit. Furthermore, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Embracing this biblical truth is the first step in recovering from depression.
Learning To Hold On
A second word of truth to help depressed people navigate the storm of their condition involves the importance of “holding on” during their faith crisis. But how can you hold on when you don’t have any faith? So let’s learn again from the master.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus talked with a father whose son was very ill. Jesus told him his son would heal if the father “believed.” Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” The passage continues, “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” -Mark 9:23-24 Then Jesus went on to heal the boy.
Help Me Overcome My Unbelief
Now in this passage, the father did not have faith. He told Jesus as much when he declared, “help me overcome my unbelief.” Yet Jesus healed his son, even though the father lacked faith. This event occurred after Jesus told him that “everything is possible for one who believes.” So it seems like a contradiction. First, Jesus says to be healed, you must believe. Then the father says that he doesn’t believe. But Jesus heals his son anyway. Why?
The answer is that Jesus sees faith and the desire for faith as equivalent. The father lacked faith in Jesus at that moment but desperately “wanted” to believe for the sake of his son. The desire to believe was good enough for Jesus. It was more than enough. In this passage, Jesus seems to say that “wanting to believe” is equivalent to actually believing. This situation is good news for depressed people who are physiologically incapable of accessing their faith. For as long as you can conjure up a desire to “want to believe,” God is satisfied.
Reading Romans 5 With A New Lens
With this awareness, let’s reread Romans 5, which amazingly contains four truths for overcoming depression.
“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5
You can glory in your suffering (find a sense of peace in your depression) knowing that you, who are poor in spirit, are blessed (loved) by God.
God’s love will help you hold on (persevere). You may currently lack faith, but hold on to the longing to feel that faith again.
Holding on in the midst of suffering builds character. And trusting that God still loves you, even though you cannot feel His love at the moment, gives you a seed of hope – which is all you need.
Finally, remember that because you are blessed, God’s love is pouring into your heart (the Holy Spirit) and restoring you.
Two Truths To Remember
So for those of you suffering from depression, remember these two truths. First, regardless of the fact that depression blocks faith, your lack of faith is not an obstacle to healing. Instead, it reflects the poorness of your spirit, which is a blessing and the key to your recovery. Second, Jesus clarified that you don’t have to have faith, just the desire to have faith. This desire is entirely within the grasp of a depressed person.
Armed with these two truths, you can find comfort in the scriptures. And while the road to recovery from depression is difficult, you have the strength to overcome it. Remember, God is with you, and with God, all things are possible.
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