Whenever I tell people that mental illness is a good gift from God, I initially get a lot of strange looks. I fully understand that this is a controversial subject, but I am convinced of its truth. In this blog, I shall discuss why I believe that mental illness is a good gift from God. However, I would like to say that I am not in any way trivializing human suffering. Suffering, in whatever form it takes, is horrible. But, amid human suffering, we can see how God is working gracefully in our lives. In this way, human suffering is actually quite a beautiful thing. The purpose of this blog is twofold: I want to persuade those who deal with mental illness to see their illness as a blessing from the Lord and I want people who do not have mental illness to see those of us with mental illness as people of high value. I openly admit that I have an agenda with this blog, but everyone who writes something has an agenda. Agendas are not necessarily bad things; we should all be open and honest about our agendas. In my own experience, I have found three ways that mental illness is a blessing from God. They are the following:
1) It Keeps Us Humble
2) It Makes Us Better People
3) It Causes Us To Love Christ More
I will elaborate on these points in a minute, but I would like to note that there are by far more ways that mental illness is a good gift from God, but these are the main points that I'd like to address. If you can think of more, please feel free to let me know in the comments below. People have asked me if I would like to be healed of my mental illness and people have told me that they are praying for my healing, but honestly, I am glad that I have my mental illness and wouldn't have any other way. It is for these reasons that I am glad and after you read my reasoning, you will think the same way as I do. But, first, I'd like to take you to a key text on which I am basing my thesis on. That text is James 1:17, which says,
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"
As you can see from this text, every good gift comes from God above. This is not to be questioned. Every blessing we receive in this life is a blessing from the Lord. But, is mental illness truly a blessing from God? I am glad you asked because now I will get into my three points.
It Keeps Us Humble
Mental Illness keeps us humble and dependent on Christ. The reason why I say this is because we understand our own failings and we understand that there is nothing inherently good within us. As 2 Corinthians 12:7 says,
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited"
We do not know what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" exactly was, but we do know that it was given to him to keep him humble. In the same way, I believe that some people are given a mental illness to keep them humble. I know that in my own life, my mental illness causes me to rely more on Christ because I fully understand that I cannot trust my own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. It is for this reason that I throw myself before His throne daily because there is nothing else for me to do.
It Makes Us Better People
Now, I know that this is probably going to get me in some hot water with certain people. I do believe that those of us with mental illness are in fact better people because of our illness than if we did not have mental illness. The reason that I say this is because we tend to be more compassionate and patient toward the shortcomings of other people. We also seem to endure things that most people would crumble under. The Apostle Paul sort of hints at this in Romans 5:3-5 when he says,
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us"
I would like to stress the point that the Apostle Paul says that we "rejoice in our sufferings". Why do we rejoice? It is because we understand that in enduring suffering we are being made into better people who are created in the Imago Dei and who belong to God. Our mental illnesses create in us a genuine character which we rarely find in people who do not deal with mental illness. I think this is because we understand our own struggle and it causes us to be able to identify with other people's struggles as well.
It Causes Us To Love Christ More
I know that this may sound strange and I admit that I do not have a Scripture verse to justify this claim. All I have is my personal experience for this one. However, please do not disregard personal experience. In a lot of ways, personal experience can be just as credible. In my own experience, I have found that because I acknowledge that there is nothing good in me since I see my own failings and struggles, but then I contemplate the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf, it does cause me to love Him even more. I do not think that I would love Christ if it weren't for my mental illness because I would think that I am better without Him in my life. However, since I do have a clinical mental illness, and I acknowledge that I struggle daily with it, it causes me to trust in Him more for my life and salvation because I know that He is my life. My identity is found solely in Him alone and not in my mental illness. For this reason, I love Him all the more.
I do want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope that you better understand my position on why I believe mental illness is a gift from God. Even if you still disagree with me about this, maybe you can appreciate my take still. I hope that this blog both edified your faith and challenged you to see mental illness in a whole different light. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
1) It Keeps Us Humble
2) It Makes Us Better People
3) It Causes Us To Love Christ More
I will elaborate on these points in a minute, but I would like to note that there are by far more ways that mental illness is a good gift from God, but these are the main points that I'd like to address. If you can think of more, please feel free to let me know in the comments below. People have asked me if I would like to be healed of my mental illness and people have told me that they are praying for my healing, but honestly, I am glad that I have my mental illness and wouldn't have any other way. It is for these reasons that I am glad and after you read my reasoning, you will think the same way as I do. But, first, I'd like to take you to a key text on which I am basing my thesis on. That text is James 1:17, which says,
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"
As you can see from this text, every good gift comes from God above. This is not to be questioned. Every blessing we receive in this life is a blessing from the Lord. But, is mental illness truly a blessing from God? I am glad you asked because now I will get into my three points.
It Keeps Us Humble
Mental Illness keeps us humble and dependent on Christ. The reason why I say this is because we understand our own failings and we understand that there is nothing inherently good within us. As 2 Corinthians 12:7 says,
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited"
We do not know what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" exactly was, but we do know that it was given to him to keep him humble. In the same way, I believe that some people are given a mental illness to keep them humble. I know that in my own life, my mental illness causes me to rely more on Christ because I fully understand that I cannot trust my own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. It is for this reason that I throw myself before His throne daily because there is nothing else for me to do.
It Makes Us Better People
Now, I know that this is probably going to get me in some hot water with certain people. I do believe that those of us with mental illness are in fact better people because of our illness than if we did not have mental illness. The reason that I say this is because we tend to be more compassionate and patient toward the shortcomings of other people. We also seem to endure things that most people would crumble under. The Apostle Paul sort of hints at this in Romans 5:3-5 when he says,
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us"
I would like to stress the point that the Apostle Paul says that we "rejoice in our sufferings". Why do we rejoice? It is because we understand that in enduring suffering we are being made into better people who are created in the Imago Dei and who belong to God. Our mental illnesses create in us a genuine character which we rarely find in people who do not deal with mental illness. I think this is because we understand our own struggle and it causes us to be able to identify with other people's struggles as well.
It Causes Us To Love Christ More
I know that this may sound strange and I admit that I do not have a Scripture verse to justify this claim. All I have is my personal experience for this one. However, please do not disregard personal experience. In a lot of ways, personal experience can be just as credible. In my own experience, I have found that because I acknowledge that there is nothing good in me since I see my own failings and struggles, but then I contemplate the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf, it does cause me to love Him even more. I do not think that I would love Christ if it weren't for my mental illness because I would think that I am better without Him in my life. However, since I do have a clinical mental illness, and I acknowledge that I struggle daily with it, it causes me to trust in Him more for my life and salvation because I know that He is my life. My identity is found solely in Him alone and not in my mental illness. For this reason, I love Him all the more.
I do want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope that you better understand my position on why I believe mental illness is a gift from God. Even if you still disagree with me about this, maybe you can appreciate my take still. I hope that this blog both edified your faith and challenged you to see mental illness in a whole different light. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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