12-13-2015 Bioethics Part 36

The speaker begins by praying and expressing gratitude. They mention that their study of bioethics has been beneficial in thinking about their own lives and navigating the challenges of living in a technological world. They then introduce the topic of depression and mental illness, explaining that it is something many people face and that they will be discussing it in the coming weeks. They give eight reasons why it is important for the church to address these issues, highlighting that although the Bible does not provide a manual for getting out of depression, it does offer guidance and examples that can be helpful. The speaker mentions various Bible characters who experienced mental anguish and points out that even Jesus himself experienced extreme anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane. Overall, the speaker emphasizes the importance of addressing mental health in the church and provides reasons why it is relevant and necessary. Alright, let's pray and get started, God we thank you for this time and for each other and for your word and for brains to think and we pray that as we think this morning that you would give us wisdom and insight, in Jesus' name, Amen. This year has been a journey into bioethics, the plan was to end roughly in the next couple weeks but that is not even a remote possibility, which is okay I think, I think sometimes we get into series and everybody just prays for like the pastor to die or for Jesus to come back but it doesn't seem to be the case, either everybody is lying to me or this has been a beneficial study, mainly because we've been trying to not just look at bioethical issues but also just really think about our own lives, trying to figure out a way of living in the world that is faithful to our call as disciples of Jesus, living as citizens of a brave new and often dark technological world that leaves a lot of questions unanswered. These are questions that very few of our forefathers ever had to think about. It was interesting in that I was, a lot of people were asking why in the heck I'd be getting a master's degree in bioethics in Latin America and then after about three seconds of talking they were like, oh yeah, but it's interesting how even in talking with people in Central America the issues are all still the same, but there's not nearly as many things that they're facing, although they will be facing, mainly just because they are not as technologically advanced as we are, although they're gaining rapidly. And with every technological advance, as we've seen, we have to ask new and interesting questions about the way that we live. So having taken a few months to carefully think through, one of the hottest topics of our day, which is homosexuality, I thought that going into the holiday season we'd go with something a bit lighter, namely depression and mental illness. It's also fitting, right, there is, it's actually untrue, it's the opposite of true that most people get depressed and commit suicide during the holiday season. It's actually the lowest period, it's the period that immediately follows the holiday season that a lot of that happens. But as we are here and thinking about this, depression and mental illness is something that a lot of us face. Maybe you're thinking like, man, what the heck are we studying something like this in church for? Well, I'm going to give you eight reasons this morning why you and I should take the time to look at something like depression and mental illness as a church. The eight reasons that I give this morning, I promise this is not going to be a four-hour long lecture, though it easily could be, for the next, I don't know how many weeks, we're going to be roughly tracking with this book, Christians Get Depressed Too, written by David Murray. It's 112 pages and as you can see it is a small book, this is a book that anybody in here can read. I know that some of you are like, reading is next to ungodliness, however that's false. And also, yours is not redeemed, Brian, and also it is gold, like there is not a word lost up in here. So I highly recommend this book and if you do read it, hopefully I'll have something else to say. But I'm going to use technology this morning, as much as that's going to come as a surprise, I know, right? I'm also in the process of sanctification, this has nothing to do with it, but because I'm going to give eight reasons, I figured it would be helpful to list them. So, reason number one, look at that, you all think I'm unable to do all this kind of stuff, because, I'm not going to have any sweet transitions, by the way, I was thinking about doing that and then I decided that would be a bad idea, because the Bible speaks about it. That's the first reason, probably one of the more important reasons, like every bioethical issue of our day, when we think about the Bible, we've talked about enough of these now, so you can help me, what do we know when it comes to bioethical challenges of today and the Bible? There we go, yeah, so, we saw that when it comes to something like in vitro fertilization, or whether or not we should exterminate people who have mental illnesses, or handicaps, the Bible does not, you can't quote anything that is directly applied to that. There are all kinds of things that speak to the broad issues that would inform our decisions. The same is true when it comes to something like depression and mental illness. This is not to downplay the goodness, or the authority, or the necessity of scripture, but the Bible is not a manual for getting out of depression. It is often treated that way. You don't feel good, just read the Bible, and somehow, something magically happens, and poof, you will feel better. That is only something that sounds good to somebody who has never had depression. It sounds like a decent idea, but in practice, it's actually not very effective, although that does not mean that we should not read our Bibles, but that alone will not cure us. It also doesn't cure your broken leg, which is a hint towards where we are going here. We all would laugh at that and go, well, of course not. The question is, what's the difference between a broken leg and a broken brain? So, I'm giving away some of where we're going in the next few weeks, but you'll all forget what I said 20 minutes after I said it. The Bible doesn't talk about a whole range of things. Give me something the Bible has nothing to say about in particular, like chapter and verse. There we go, dyeing your hair purple. That's right, it doesn't have anything to say about that. Anything else? This should be illegal, I should just do like hands flying. Yes? Robots. There we go. Huh? Airplanes. That's right. It has nothing to say about any of that stuff in particular, however, it might have something to say, something kind of around the issue, maybe, when it comes to something like robots or airplanes or dyeing your hair purple, but just because the Bible doesn't say everything or say anything in specific doesn't mean that it doesn't say anything at all. All kinds of verses, as we'll see, come into play when talking about depression, and more than that, there's all kinds of Bible characters who either explicitly or implicitly express traits that we will see come to define somebody as depressed, with profound anxiety. We have to be very careful to not psychoanalyze characters in the Bible, it is very easy to do so, however, there are some times where you just read the stuff and go, yeah, there seems to be something going on. Can anybody think of anything in the Bible that would be that way? A character or maybe a chapter or something talking about somebody's life? Job. Yes. Job was absolutely at the point of despair and with extreme anxiety. Anybody else? David. Yeah, at all points during David's life? Yeah, there's lots of points at David's life, and where do we learn about that in particular? Psalms. That's right. So there are many psalms that are at least attributed to David that would give us the picture of somebody with extreme mental anxiety and a lack of hope, crying himself to bed every night, and not every psalm ends all kinds of cheery and bright. Anybody else? Saul. Yes. Saul? At what point in particular in Saul's life? Post-Goliath. Post-Goliath. That's right. As David is on the ascend in the book of 1 Samuel, Saul is very much on the descend, and then near the end of the book, in, for example, chapter 28, Saul goes to a witch in order to find out what God has for him as a plan, and that ends up not going very well, and he ends up looking for God, calling for Samuel. Samuel comes to everybody's surprise. Samuel tells him he's going to die the next day. By the way, I'm not a biblical genius. The only reason I know this is because I just got done teaching this last week. Just throwing that out there. And then he leaves. He's crumpled on the floor. He can't even eat anything, knowing that the next day he's going to die. Extremely anguished. Yeah. Any other ideas? Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar? Yeah. When? When he was made to go crazy. Okay, yeah, so he was made to go crazy. That's right. Yeah, that will come into play very much so in the mental illness stuff. Hannah, Sarah, Rachel. Hannah, Sarah, Rachel. Yeah. Lots of women of the Bible. Like, see, here's the thing. Like, we have it. Every woman ever alive. Yeah, way to go. I didn't say it. I didn't say it. I'm just going to point that out for the recording. Somebody else said that. He was married and sitting next to somebody. Yeah. Nicely done. I didn't say it. That's all I have to say. So, yeah, there are lots and lots of people in the Bible. We can even think of Jesus, right? At what point in Jesus' life would he seem to have been at least in a point of extreme mental anguish? The Garden of Gethsemane. Maybe you have experienced extreme anxiety. You've never sweated blood. Right? You've never done that. Yet the Son of God, the one who, let's just imagine, in the Garden, what did Jesus know? He knew all kinds of things. He was going to suffer extreme pain by God. Yes, he was going to experience extreme physical pain that was going to come from God. It was also spiritual. We don't know exactly how all the details of this work out, right? But separation, even from the Father, and rejecting his Son because of the sin that he bore for us. However, what else did he know at the same time? Okay, he knew that it must be done. What else? Exactly. Jesus knows in the Garden, I'm getting up out of that grave, and I am going to rule as the Almighty King of the Universe for all time, vindicated, justifying. That's why he despised the shame of the cross. However, knowing all of that, from the very moment he arrives on the scene, by the way, it's not something he learns in the Garden, he always knew that, he still is in a point of extreme mental anguish. If that doesn't give you the sufferer hope, I don't know what would. Whether it's for a brief time or full-blown mental illness, in the cause of some characters in the Bible, it's not easy to say. However, it's all over. As one author puts it, the Psalms treat depression more realistically than many of today's popular books on Christianity and psychology. David and other psalmists often found themselves deeply distressed for various reasons. They did not, however, apologize for what they were feeling, nor did they confess it as sin. It was a legitimate part of their relationship with God. They interacted with Him through the context of their depression. I've brought that point up before in a preaching context, not in this church, thankfully, and been told at the end that I was in sin, because I was comforting people in their sin, because depression is a sin, and because it's always a spiritual condition. I am seeking to blow that ship out of the water like a four-year-old playing battleship. It is absolutely untrue. As we continue, I hope that we will carefully look at what the Bible actually has to say, when it actually has something to say, that we'll remember that there's all these kinds of characters that are exhibiting these kinds of symptoms, and we're going to be seeing what the Bible has to say about it as we go along. So that's number one. Not all these points are that long, by the way, or we'd be here for a year. Number two, because it's so common, let me give you some statistics. One of every five people experiences depression, and one in ten experience a panic attack at some stage in life. An estimated 121 million people worldwide suffer from depression. Studies show that 5.8% of men and 9.5% of women will experience a depressive episode in any given year. Suicide, sometimes the end result of depression, is the leading cause of violent death worldwide. 49.1% of all violent deaths compared with 18.6% in war and 31.3% by homicide. Clearly, this is not a small problem. This is not an American problem. This is not a 21st century problem. This is a human problem that people have always experienced. Again, at the moment that you think, maybe it's just because we have internet and SpongeBob SquarePants or something, that's why we're all depressed, just hearken back, just for a moment, to all of the people we mentioned in the Bible, and then remember, just for that brief instant, that the Bible was written 2,000 years ago or later. It's been around forever. If it's something that some of us are dealing with, or will deal with, then it's something worth talking about. Silence only hurts all of us. Really, the commonality of depression should in no way shock us. Why not? Yeah. Right? I'm just thinking about it for a second. Yes, 5, almost 6% of men, and 10%, almost, of women in any given year will experience depression. What that means is 90% of women do not experience depression, and 95% of men do not experience depression. That blows my mind. That might be because I am part of that 5% and want to justify myself, however, we live in a totally messed up world. The fact of the matter is that those who have depression might be the sanest people of all. Again, that might just be self-justification, however, it is super common, right? And what should surprise us is how few of us actually have it. I think that the world, I'm thankful to God that only that many people have it. I can only imagine a world where 95% of people were chronically depressed all the time. That would be a world less worth living in than it is today. However, it is super common, and so we should talk about it. Next, because it impacts our spiritual life. Humans are made up of what? Two things. Body and soul. That's right. The physical and the immaterial. Christians here today have a hard time remembering this often. There is a very real interdependence between our bodies and our souls. What do I mean by that? Does anybody have an idea of what that would look like? There's an interdependence between our bodies and our souls. Right. Exactly. If you are physically sick, you will tend to be spiritually down. And if you are spiritually down, that can lead to you being physically ill. I don't want to ask for a show of hands, but that just makes sense to us. The odd thing would be if you are in an extreme car wreck, or if you get injured somehow and can't do something. We all feel down when that happens. Some of us feel more down than other people. And the longer those things go on, those physical things, even their minor and annoying things, the kind of worse our spiritual state often tends to get. If we care for the physical and spiritual well-being of our neighbors, then we must be concerned for how they are doing on the inside and the outside. And ironically, faith is often a hindrance when it comes to depression. There is a wicked spiral that people fall into where they blame their mental state on their spiritual performance. Your brain is a physical thing. There are all kinds of crazy things that happen. Our brain is by far the most misunderstood or least understood part of our human bodies. We are learning more about it each and every single day. And no, I am not a neuroscientist, nor do I pretend to be one. However, it is fascinating the kinds of things that we are learning about our brains all the time. But the more that we learn about our brains, the more confusing often it gets about why the heck it just works as well as it does, as often as it does, and all of the things that are going on there. But the brain is a physical thing that can go physically wrong, badly. Some of us in here have experiences with that, right? And I am not talking like there are people with mental illness here, but there are people who have had brain trauma here or who have certain things that just don't function real well in their brains. And it is a very real thing. Oftentimes for Christians, depression comes, or they see depression as a sign from God that the sufferer is not performing spiritually well enough. I have heard this excuse given by both those who have been suffering depression and by those who are, quote-unquote, encouraging those who are suffering. Just like Job's friends, it's like, well maybe... How much time are you spending in the Word every week? Or, you know, people often will get down and be like, I just don't... I think that this is God's sign of judgment on me. I'm just not really focusing with my children about the two natures of Christ, and I'm just trying to get across the hypostatic union, but it's so difficult that I've just kind of given up. It's like, well, you know, maybe you shouldn't go so hard on yourself. Let me say, or ask the question, is it possible that our spiritual condition can possibly lead to depression? Yes or no? Absolutely. But is that the only reason that depression could possibly be our lot in life? Absolutely not. Again, see the book of Job. And interestingly, this leads people to withdrawing from others, feeling worthless before God, leaving them more depressed. Faith is often the match that lights the fire that makes depression grow bigger. It's kind of sad, but very real. Number four, because it may be prevented or mitigated. To begin with, I'd like to make clear that it is an absolute established fact by both Christian and non-Christian researchers that there is a genetic predisposition to depression. It's what makes it so difficult. A genetic predisposition towards anything means that some of us, because of the physical makeup which we contain as a human being, are either more or less disposed to get something. Some of you are genetically predisposed to have high cholesterol, or genetically predisposed to have your hair fall out, or genetically predisposed to be tall or short, all kinds of different things. Depression is absolutely no different. That doesn't mean that if you're genetically predisposed to something, you're going to have it. It also doesn't mean that if you're not predisposed, then you're not going to have it. This is one of the big challenges today in people figuring out their own genome sequences. If you didn't know about this, it's kind of a trip. You can get a little kit in the mail. You can swab the inside of your mouth with essentially a high-tech Q-tip, put it inside a little plastic case, send that sucker away, and for really a nominal fee, you can figure out everything about your genomic makeup. It can tell you everything that you're predisposed to get, where you came from, probably, where your lineage is, just generally. There are 10 billion problems and issues with that. One of the main ones being is that not a single person in here, at least that I know of, is a genetic scientist. And to read that kind of material can be incredibly harmful, damaging, and leave one in an extreme state of anxiety when all of a sudden you figure out that you're genetically predisposed to get like 55 different illnesses. It's like, oh my gosh, when is it going to happen? And you don't know where to go with it. It's one of the reasons why people are debating whether humans should do that or not. But just in case you find out that you're genetically predisposed, and you know that, one way that you could know that is if your family has a history of depression, you are probably in line to get a bit of it yourself. But there are plenty of people whose families don't have any of that, and they find themselves in that position as well. Regardless, some of us are that way. And by naming the silences, we rob them of their power. We ought to talk about these things in order to be helped ourselves or be able to help others. If we don't have knowledge, we will be near useless to ourselves and others when facing a crisis. I've heard from some of you who have already used some of the things we've learned here with other people in times of questioning about things, difficulty, for no other reason than you're like, well, I mean, I was in Sunday school class, we talked about this, here's what I know, and it's been helpful to people. We're not going to turn into psychologists in this room. You should not leave here, you won't get a certificate, but when we're done with depression and mental illness, you will know quite a bit, but you will not be a certified trained counselor, you will not be able to distribute medications, you should give people advice on getting medications. What we're seeking to do, though, is help people who are in need, and because depression can be prevented or mitigated, or the effects of it lessened. Knowing something about this will also lead us away from the insanely harmful and ridiculous notion many Christians hold to today, that to take medication is somehow to reject faith and or God. Believe me, you and I are going to have a discussion about medication, and they are very much a two-edged sword, but to believe they are only for the quote-unquote weak or carnal Christians is absurd to the highest degree, and again, if you need proof of this, when you break your leg, you don't tell somebody just to pray. And your brain is a physical thing. It's a physical thing. You maybe never held a brain or seen one. It's a real thing. You can mess with it, because it's real. Sometimes I think we picture our brains as just like floating gas that's up here, up in this thing, and if we just kind of cracked it, then just kind of stuff would go away. It's not that way. It's a physical thing, and it can go physically wrong. So, we need to think about this. Next, because it can open doors, it will open doors for usefulness. Again, most of us feel paralyzed when it comes to people with depression and mental illness. It is, I will not lie, it is, by far, the most difficult issue in the kind of pastoral role of the Church. It is also, by far, one of the most difficult and pressing issues in society today, the more we learn about it. Anybody have any ideas why? Alright, go for it. Good, yeah. So, because people express these things in different ways, and everybody is an individual, there is no kind of... we're not going to come up with a four-step move to get somebody well again, which is not true when somebody breaks a bone, right? Well, there might be complications there. We've got to take an x-ray. It's pretty clear that, like, you've got to put the bone straight again. This is how you put bones straight. Maybe you need pins and all that kind of stuff, but here's how you put a bone straight and the bone grows back. That's not true when it comes to the brain. Also, thinking about both the context of the local Church and the context of society at large, if somebody is mentally incapacitated or ill, or damaged in some way, and they do something that the community of faith or society at large deems to be unfitting, what is the society to do? It'd be very easy just to say, well, we just throw the book at everybody, right? And I'm not saying. I'm just raising questions, uncomfortable questions. The hard part about this is, what do we do with people who are truly not, quote-unquote, in their right minds? How do you deal with somebody like that? It's very easy. It'd be very easy to just go black and white and just go, look, you don't even take that into consideration. Both U.S. jurisprudence and lots of pastors today are wondering, how do we minister well and effectively to people whose brains are broken? Which, how many people's brains are broken? Everyone's, exactly. Everybody in here is less than ideal. It's actually one place of commonality that when you are speaking to somebody who has extreme depression or some form of mental illness, you are not coming to them as one who is a whole and complete being, speaking to somebody who's just less than human. You are messed up just like they are. And it's one thing that you should both think and then share as you're speaking with people, because if we don't, then these open doors of usefulness will just be open doors that will provide to hurt people. Knowing is only half the battle. It's necessary but not sufficient to help people. You can't just know things and then that will inherently help others. We're going to spend time looking at what we should do in the coming weeks. And for here and now, here's a general adage that kind of applies to the whole of all of life, a kind of just good general rule that we probably know but probably don't practice very often. I know that for me it's incredibly difficult. This will help you in your marriage. It will help you with your children. It will help you at work. It will help you in every aspect of life. Ready for it. Speak less. Ask more questions. Pray more. And listen hard. You do that, and like pretty much a lot of the problems that are up in this room right now between interpersonal conflict, those go away. Right? Speak less. Ask more questions. Pray more. Listen hard. It would be amazing how much we could solve if we did that. Particularly true when it comes to people who are struggling with things. Six, because it's so misunderstood. One guy who's written on depression who's a Christian says this, Being depressed is bad enough in itself, but being depressed as a Christian is worse. Being a depressed Christian in a church full of people who don't understand depression is like a little taste of hell. Telling people today that you have depression is something that would... Do you think that would be well received in the church? Or no? No. That's right. It would be akin to saying that you are struggling with what? Drugs. Great. What else? Pornography. There we go. Now we're getting into the good ones. Right? Same-sex attraction. When you hear it, you're just like, okay, there's this category. Generally, broadly, maybe that's not your category. Maybe you're like, I don't have a problem with that. You have a problem with something, right? So whatever your category is over here, this is kind of the broad American 21st century evangelical categories we're talking about up here, right? These are the things that we're like, You struggle with that? You're disgusting. I mean, I know I struggle with stuff, but it's like this stuff. It's like, I really struggle with just like, you know, being humble, you know? I struggle to not judge other people for not praying as much as I do. You know, it's like, okay, way to be. That might be true, and that might be your big thing, but it really comes from a sense of pride, and even the way we frame things is interesting. But there are these things that we experience that are so misunderstood that we think, how could you possibly? I mean, I've heard people say stuff like this. Maybe you've said stuff like this. Somebody said something like this to you in the past. They hear that you're struggling with depression, and they go, I mean, don't you believe the gospel? Like it's some kind of magic trick, makes me just want to say, do you believe in the fist that's coming at your face right now? Don't you, you know, don't you know that that's wrong? Thank you. I'm glad I confessed to you what I'm struggling with because now I didn't know it was wrong. Misunderstanding leads to hurtful things being said or nothing being said at all. Both of those are illegitimate options. You and I, in order to love our neighbors, have to say something, so we better know what we're supposed to say when we open our mouths. Christians fight these kinds of things. There's a very helpful book called I'm Not Supposed to Feel Like This, which is also going to inform our study. They have this kind of creed about what they both believe and do not believe. It goes like this when it comes to depression. What we believe, we believe that all Christians can experience fear, worry, and depression. We also believe that being a Christian does not prevent us or our loved ones from experiencing upsetting and challenging problems such as illness, unemployment, or relationship and other practical difficulties. What we do not believe, although at times we all choose to act in ways that are wrong, and this can lead to bad consequences for us and for others, we do not see anxiety and depression as always being the result of sin. Neither do we believe that mental health problems are the result of a lack of faith. This is something we're going to be playing off of as we move forward. Again, those are possibilities, but we're trying to hold all of this in tension. I will be honest with you, it would be much easier to not study this at all. Bury our heads in the sand, forget that there are some of us amongst us who are suffering, tell everybody to just suck it up and drive on, not get to really know anybody, just say, how are you doing this morning? Come in, sing songs to Jesus, hear a nice little word from the Lord, maybe drop a few bucks in the box in the back and get out of here. And just not deal with anybody. Just be cool with your relationship with Jesus, hope to God that Jesus comes back sooner rather than later so you can get out of here and go float around on a cloud somewhere. That would be the easy way forward. The moment that you try to get to know another human being is the moment that you enter into a process of suffering. Why? Because other human beings are horrible individuals who are struggling with the same things that you struggle with and I struggle with. Just think about your own heart and your own brain, the center of your being, just for like two seconds. And then imagine that that's what's going on in everybody else as well. We are, inside of ourselves, a mountain of issues and problems. And to help is difficult, yet it is what we are called to do as those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. So not only is it so misunderstood, so we should talk about it. Seventh, and ultimately, because it is a talent to be invested for God. This one might surprise you and give you hope, especially if you suffer from depression. Is depression outside of the plan of God for your life, yes or no? No. Not at all. And you might think, this is not what I wanted. Or how could anybody want this? Is God's plan for our life that which we want? What if God's plan for our life were what we wanted? Yeah, exactly. It would be miserable, right? Because you only think about the positive things, you're not thinking about all the crazy things that you used to want or currently want or will want in the future. If that was God's plan for your life, then none of us would probably be alive because we'd all just be doing whatever we wanted. God's will, I mean, I feel like it. We all have things, we saw this during our talk about homosexuality, that the life that God has given us to live, the thing that he has assigned us, as it says in Acts, is not always the life that we would choose. However, it must be the best of all possible lives for us because that is indeed what God has given to us. And everything that God has given to us is something that he will use in us for his glory, though you and I will likely not understand that, particularly the harder that thing is. You and I will all suffer in our own ways in this life through particular things. The question is not, why did God give me this thing, but how can I use what God has given me for his glory? That's not an easy thing to believe. It's easy to believe when maybe the gift that God has given us is hospitality, or music ability, or a love for the word and teaching it. That's easy to say, oh, I see how God is using this. It's the hard things that are often difficult. Think about this, though, the book Mind Over Mood, which is a secular book about depression. It uses a helpful illustration of an oyster and a pearl. We are landlocked here and many miles away from delicious oysters. How does an oyster form a pearl? Anybody know? Not exactly pressure. Layers. Why do the layers build? What does it build around? Sand. Why does it build layers around the sand? Because it's irritated. It does not like the sand being there, so what it does is it puts layers around the sand and just keeps adding to it until you have these magnificent looking pearls. Are you okay? How does that work with depression? Depression is a talent to be used by God because it is one of those things that is irritating to us, however, as we seek to glorify God and experiencing these kinds of things, it is those kinds of things that will often make us the most effective and useful people in the kingdom of God. That's why these things are God's gifts to us. Just like Paul's thorn in the flesh, whatever the heck that was, the same can be true of depression or any other problem that we face. Some of the greatest saints of the church battled depression sometimes to an almost unbelievable degree. Some of the most hilarious examples of this would be Martin Luther. If you have never read anything about Luther, I highly encourage it. His battles with the devil are legendary. He was at least depressed, if not mentally ill for his entire life, yet mightily used by God. Many of the greatest hymns of the church that have been written through time have been written by people who are experiencing unbelievable physical pain and mental anguish. It is often from suffering that genius arises. It is a talent to be invested by God. Lastly, I'll close with this. You and I can all improve our mental health. If you and I are all broken, then you and I could do to be better. Interestingly, most Christians diet and exercise to some degree, or at least are convinced they should. They're convinced that it would be a good idea if they did that. A lot of us do that less than we should, but we are convinced it's a good idea. People get all kinds of obsessed with what they do with their bodies, but very little time goes into thinking about what they do with their brains. I often get a kick out of how crazy I am on paper. Some of you know that I score like dangerously, ridiculously off the charts in every single mental illness exam that exists on the face of the planet Earth. Thank you. Yeah, for some of you, that comes as no surprise whatsoever. It is not a joke. My family has an extensive and ample history of mental illness. The interesting thing is that I am half as sane as I am today. Whether you're in the same boat as I am or not, I can almost guarantee you that you could learn about depression in general in order to better your own mental health. Living in the culture that we do, it's kind of built in order to breed depression in us. Anybody know why? What parts of our society, particularly ours now, we're not the only ones, but what are the parts of our society that would lead towards a depressive state? News. Okay, news. Why news? Because it's always talking about something that's totally messed up. Okay, that's right. It only focuses on everything that's messed up. Yes? Because we're paranoid, we're told we can do whatever we want, which is a bunch of garbage. Right, yeah. We're told we can do whatever we want, which is a bunch of garbage, right? I don't care how much you want to be an astronaut, that's probably not going to happen, let's just be honest. Yes? Yes, so how would that contribute? Yeah, individualism leads to loneliness a lot of the time. Right. What about all the technology we have? Right? It's always like coming at you, and there's always something else to learn about. You're always like, oh, I'm not keeping up with the Joneses. Right? There is a crisis amongst the youth of today when it comes to social media. Right? They are burdened down with just liking stuff. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. And people, the craziest part is, like they know they're trapped in it, and they know how ridiculous it is, but they can't seem to get out of it. It's a real burden for a lot of young kids. It's also just the fact that because of our consumeristic society, nothing is ever good enough. You've always got to be a little bit better than you are. That can never produce satisfaction. So, in other words, if you and I do not think about depression and mental illness, then you and I will most likely fall prey to it, because that's the natural tendency of the way our society is built. It's a default. You can ignore it if you would like, but that's the path you're going to go down. Just like when we looked at the Proverbs, you must pursue wisdom because you will be pursuing folly if you don't. The same thing goes with depression and mental illness. You and I can all stand to learn how to live in light of such serious challenges and to see what the Gospel might have to say to some of this as we're seeking to both glorify God in our bodies and also love our neighbors. Let's pray. God, we thank you for the fact that we are all here and to some degree sane, that the world has not consumed us and that by faith we have hope in a future that is bright. God, we know that that does not solve our issues. That does not take suffering away that many of us either do or will or at least prone to suffer mentally to an extreme degree in this life. And we pray that as we continue down this road that we would pay attention, that we would be thoughtful about what we say and how we say it, how we think, to be thoughtful about what love of neighbor looks like and how we ought to treat each other in order that we would be effective and useful both ourselves in the worship of you as we seek to be effective in helping others. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.