Why The Church Should Care About Mental Illness?

 

Mental illness is a hot-button topic in today's society. Some say mental illness does not exist and that those who claim to have mental illness are just making an excuse for laziness. On the other hand, some claim mental illness is the cause of every evil action that one does. Both of these views are wrong and do nothing but promote the stigma against mental illness. The Church is no better in this regard. The Church has been on the wrong side of this issue throughout history. In the medieval days, Christians believed that mental illness was demonic and the answer was an exorcism; some Christians even believe this today. Most Christians in these modern times merely ignore mental illness because they think that by  ignoring this issue it will naturally diminish. In this blog, I shall give three reasons why the Church should not only care about mental health issues but also why the Church should work towards fighting against the stigma of mental illness.  The purpose of this blog is not to demean my Christian brothers and sisters who are not ready to engage with the mental health community, but I am to exhort them to at least care for those who suffer from mental illnesses. My hope is that after you read this blog you will walk away with a renewed interest in at least learning about mental illness because it could save the life of one of your loved ones. 

The top three reasons why I believe that mental illness should be cared for within the Church are the following: 

1) Mental illness is very common 

2) Jesus Christ tells us to care for the "least of these" 

3) We are called to love our neighbor 

I will elaborate on each of these three points, but first I'd like to say that these are not the only three points for why we should care for the mentally ill. There are a plethora of reasons but for the sake of this blog, these are the main points I am choosing to focus on. If you can think of any more reasons, please feel free to let me know in the comments below. 

Mental illness is very common 

According to the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI), over 20% of the population suffers from a clinical mental illness and some estimates say that it is well over 50%. This means that about 20-50% of the population suffers from a mental illness. This would mean that mental illness affects people within your very church congregation! For this reason, we should care for those within our church walls who struggle with mental illness because we are called to carry one another's burdens. The sad reality is that many people within churches who deal with mental illnesses are suffering in silence because they do not know who to talk to. We need to do better as the Body of Christ in this regard because it is unfortunate that the world is doing much more for the mentally ill among us than we are currently doing. 

Jesus Christ tells us to care for the "least of these" 

In Matthew 25:31-46 we read Jesus' parable of the Final Judgement. In this parable the Great King separates the sheep from the goats, He then turns to the sheep and commends them for feeding Him when He was hungry, clothing Him when He was naked, visiting Him when He was sick or in prison, and much more. The sheep then turn to Him and ask Him when they do all these things. Then, in verse 40, The King says something truly remarkable. He says the following, 

"Truly, I say to you, as you did to one of these least of these my brothers, you did it to me" 

Jesus is essentially saying that whatever we do to the less fortunate among us, we are doing that action to Him. Christ so identifies Himself with the less fortunate. If Jesus cares this much for the naked, hungry, and so forth, then how much do you think He cares for those who suffer from various mental illnesses? We should take this to heart next time we see someone walking the streets talking to themselves because that just might be an opportunity to show them the love of Christ.  

We are called to love our neighbor 

In Mark 12:31, Jesus tells us something very remarkable after telling us the first great commandment is to "love the Lord with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind". What He says next ought to make any of us feel guilty because we do not fulfill this perfectly. He says, 

"The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself..." 

As you can tell by this text, we are to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. Loving oneself is not inherently sinful, but we should not love ourselves at the expense of others. Paul tells us elsewhere, that we should regard others as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3-5). If this is true for our brothers and sisters who do not deal with mental illnesses, how much MORE true is it for the ones who do deal with mental illnesses? We should always keep this in mind whenever we interact with a brother or sister who may disclose to us their own mental health struggles. 

I would like to personally thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope that this opens your eyes to the fact that we as the Body of Christ should care for those who struggle with mental illness. We are called the Body of Christ for a reason and how do they know the love of Jesus unless we go out to them to share that love with them? I hope that you found this blog to be a blessing to you and may you go out and serve your King, May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all. Soli Deo Gloria! 

-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

How The Fear of God Helps Solve The Fear of Man

 

There is a lot of talk these days about phobias. Whether it is dogs, reptiles, certain places, or whatever it may be, it seems that everyone is afraid of something. However, the one phobia that does not really get talked about very often is a phobia called anthropophobia. What exactly is anthropophobia? It is the fear of people. People who suffer from this type of phobia may avoid large crowds, avoid eye contact, or worry excessively about being judged by others. This phobia should not be confused with social anxiety, however. Social anxiety is characterized by intense anxiety over social situations like going on a date or talking to a waiter. Anthropophobia is much more intense than social anxiety. So, how common is anthropophobia? Well, it affects 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 5 teenagers. Since this phobia is fairly common, it would be good for me to address how the Bible addresses this topic. I will like to say that having any kind of fear, except fearing the Lord, is sinful. God tells us in His word about 365 times for us to not fear. This is an explicit command in Scripture and that means any violation of it is sinful. I am not saying that this is an unforgivable sin nor am I saying that this is something that is easily overcome. I know full well how difficult it is to overcome a fear of man. However, if you take the Scriptures that I will be expounding in this blog to heart, then you will become more emboldened. First, I would like to be a little transparent with you. I struggle with this phobia to a certain extent myself because I actually do fear being in large crowds of people and I do excessively worry about what others think of me too. It is because of this that when I was younger I would go out of my way to make sure I please everyone. These days, however, I do not struggle with this as much. What changed me from how I used to be into what I am today? Well, when I actually thought about what God's word says about the fear of man, it completely revolutionized the way that I think. In Matthew 10:28, our Lord tells us, 

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell" 

One of my favorite lines in God's Not Dead 2 is when Grace tells her lawyer that she'd rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God. The reason why I like that line so much is because I often lack the courage to say it myself. Too often I fail to be bold when I should be. The reason I fail to be bold is because I worry about how I would look to others. But, I understand that I am not condemned because of my insecurities. I am still seen as righteous and holy because of my standing in Christ. In recent years, the Lord has made me bolder by impressing certain Scriptures onto my heart. For instance, in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus tells us, 

"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of things against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" 

In this text, Jesus is not telling us that we will for sure be reviled and persecuted but that IF we are, our reward is great in heaven. This does not mean we should go out and cause ourselves to be persecuted because that would not bring glory to Christ. Elsewhere, Paul tells us to live peaceably with all people. However, it is because of this verse that we should never be afraid to speak the truth of God's word because even when people insult us or persecute us, the Lord sees everything. As a matter of fact, God is pleased when His children are bold enough to stand on His truth. John Calvin once said, 

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I have seen God's truth attacked and would remain silent" 

Our lives on this earth are only for a short time. This means that whatever anyone does to us is only temporary, but what God does is eternal. When you understand this fully, it should cause you to no longer fear man. Also, we must always remember that our Lord told us in John 15:18, 

"If the world hates you, remember it hated me first" 

A servant is not above his master and since we are servants of Christ, we are not above Him. He is the light and this world is plunged into darkness. We are children of the light, so naturally, the world will hate us because it hates Him. If you keep this in mind, it should help you understand why we should never fear anyone's judgment. The world's judgment of us does not matter because they are deceived and wicked. Only God's judgment of us matters and He is pleased with us because of what His Son did on our behalf. According to Romans 8:37-39, nothing in all creation can separate us from His love. If The Lord is for us, who can seriously be against us? 

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this blog and I hope that it gives you some encouragement when you deal with anthropophobia. I understand that this will not completely cure you, but hopefully, it will make things easier for you. If that is the case, then the purpose of the blog has been served. Please let me know what you think in the comments below and 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

Simply Danny: Dating Amy Johnson (Part 10)

  ***This is a fictitious account of a man named Danny who deals with Clinical Depression. Some content in this series may be triggering. If you are easily triggered, please do not read this***

It has been six months since my most recent hospitalization and I am not ever planning on returning to Memorial Hospital again! Sure, I am glad that I was able to receive the professional help that I needed, but honestly, things could not get any better for me. My divorce has officially been finalized and I have become an active member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Pastor Tom recently asked me to help out with the youth group as one of the youth leaders and I agreed to do so. It has been an amazing time working with these teens because they are so eager to learn God's word. It has even forced me to dig deeper into His word myself because I need to be well-equipped to handle the questions these inquisitive teens throw at me. Questions concerning the Trinity, how far is too far, and many more are always on these young people's minds. I also really enjoy working with the youth pastor Eric Thompson. He is a bright and energetic man in his forties. He may seem older but he has the stamina of a young twenty-something! Life is good and God is good. My depression has subsided too because of my Prozac. Well, that is part of it anyway. I have to give credit to the abundant grace of Jesus Christ because I feel a lot more at peace. I thought that the divorce would completely crush me, but God got me through it all and now I look forward to everything He has in store for me in the future. I even began talking to this new woman who also volunteers her time as a youth leader. We are not dating currently, but man is she beautiful. Her love for the Lord just radiates off of her. I am planning on asking her out this Sunday at church. I am not going to ask her to go to anything fancy with me though. Maybe just out for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. I want our first date to be simple. Besides, I cannot afford anything too fancy right now. After all, I am still merely a grocery clerk at King Soopers. 

I am standing in front of my mirror rehearsing exactly how I am going to ask Amy out when my phone rings. I decide to answer it quickly. It is Skyler. I actually feel relieved to hear from him. 

"Hey, bud," His booming voice appears on the other end "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies with me and some of the people from the youth team?" I get excited about this because I've never been asked to go anywhere with anyone really. But, I decide that I want to play it off cool. I ask him what movie are we seeing and he says the new God's Not Dead movie. I actually have been wanting to see that movie, so I say yes. 

"Great! It starts at 2pm, so how about we swing by to pick you up at 1:30?" He asks and I check my watch. That is about thirty minutes from now. I agree to the time and we hang up the phone. I quickly decide to get myself ready. I want to look really good in case Amy will be there. The whole time I keep seeing her image in my mind. I cannot seem to stop thinking of her. 

The crew show up at my house right away and Skyler is knocking on my door. I answer and he greets me by putting me in a huge bear hug. I am getting quite used to his bear hugs by now. As he lets me go, we begin walking to his car. I see Amy sitting in the backseat and I take my seat right next to her. She smells like lilacs on a beautiful Spring morning. Andrew, the other youth leader, is sitting in the passenger seat. He is wearing a "Real Men Love Jesus" shirt and a MAGA hat too. Amy smiles at me and says hi. Her voice is literally like a song in my head. I smile back at her as I buckle myself in. Skyler starts the car up and he begins driving to the theater. 

The line to the movies is a lot longer than I expected it would be. I guess a lot of people were looking forward to seeing the new God's Not Dead movie. As soon as we can purchase our tickets, we head to the room it is playing in. Andrew and Skyler sit on one side and Amy and I sit on the other side. I am relieved to be sitting next to her. I respect Skyler a lot but he tends to be pretty loud and I do not like that. Besides, this gives me more of a chance to talk to Amy. That's really what I want anyway. 

After about two and a half hours, the movie finally comes to a close. I found the movie fascinating and yet terrifying. I say fascinating because it was interesting to see the characters react toward government persecution and yet it was terrifying because it seemed to correctly predict the state that our country is in right now. As we are walking out, I ask Amy what she thought, and she basically concurs with my analysis. Skyler tells everyone that we are going for some gelato on him. We get excited about this idea. I love gelato. 

As we enter the place called Italian Ice, Amy, Andrew, and I take our seats near the window, and Skyler approaches the front counter. 

"Man, that was such a rad movie!" Andrew says and I think it is odd for a man of his age to use words like "rad" in casual conversation. But, then again, who am I to judge? Amy agrees with him, but she laughs at his use of the English language. We begin talking about how persecution is coming to America and how it will weed out the real Christians from the false Christians. 

"I ain't scared," Skyler says, as he approaches us with five cups of gelato in his hands, "I am actually ready for the coming persecution because I know that means the Lord will return soon!" When we look confused why he has five cups of gelato, he laughs and says two are for him. He must love gelato more than all of us! 

The conversation quickly turns toward relationships and I get nervous because I have not had a serious relationship since I've been divorced. How would a godly woman react to my situation? Would she be understanding or would she not even give me a chance? I know Skyler and Andrew are both happily married and I am happy for them. Amy is single and she has never been in a relationship yet because she says she is saving herself for the right man. She is such a saint! 

"Amy, how would you feel about dating a man who is divorced for biblical reasons?" Skyler very bluntly asks and I get terrified by this. Why would he ask her that for? Amy's eyes look to the left for a second as she thinks about that scenario. 

"I guess I would not mind, as long as it were biblical. However, I have always thought I'd be with a virgin" She replies and I feel a sense of relief by her answer. Maybe I do have a chance after all. Skyler looks in my direction and smiles. Why is he looking at me for? Does he expect me to ask her out right this very second? I feel really pressured. I do not like to feel pressured. 

"Why do you ask, Sky?" Amy calmly asks him and I am glad she does not notice the way he looked at me. Skyler quickly says no reason and continues eating his gelato. We all eat in silence for about five minutes and Amy gets up to go throw away her cup and then use the restroom. Skyler looks in my direction and tells me that now is my time. 

"W-what do you mean?" I ask him, but I know what he means. He laughs and tells me that it is obvious I like her. 

"Is it really THAT obvious?" I am surprised by this because I thought I hid it well. Andrew tells me that it could not have been any more obvious and Skyler begins mocking how excited I get when I see her. I tell them to calm down and that I will ask her out when she comes out of the restroom. Then, I get up to go throw away my cup. Amy steps out of the restroom. As she walks past me, I say her name quietly. She stops and looks at me with a concerned look on her face. Although I am nervous, I decided that I need to appear confident. Women like confident men. 

"Would you care to go out with me for some coffee?" I ask and then follow it up with "Sometime this week, not right now, I mean!" She smiles at me and says that she would love to. She then tells me that she'd thought that I'd never ask her! We give each other a hug and head back to our table only to see Skyler and Andrew cleaning up. Then, we all head back to Skyler's car. 

The rest of the time, I feel like I am on cloud 9. I cannot believe that she said yes to me! I am officially going to go on my first date since being divorced. I had honestly believed that I was spoiled goods. Now, I just have to make sure I do not screw things up between us. In the car, I ask Amy if she is available tomorrow at 2pm and she says yes she is. So, I tell her I will pick her up then. I cannot believe my luck! I feel like a giddy schoolgirl. As Skyler stops the car in front of my house, we all say our goodbyes, but Amy says, "I'll see you tomorrow" with a gorgeous smile. I slowly walk to my house while praising the Lord for His goodness and mercy. 

To See How Danny's Story Ends, Click Here 

-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