Healthy Bodies

    I originally started this piece for Seminary, however it took a turn and doesn't fit the parameters of what needs to be presented.  That being said I felt it was worth sharing if it may help even one person.

     Mental health, while becoming more frequently discussed as of recent is still widely stigmatized and misunderstood. Even today with men for instance talking about our depression leaves us feeling weak and vulnerable when pop culture and society as a whole tells us we should not.  That men, should feel no weakness, no vulnerability, no pain, and no emotion let alone negative emotion such as Depression. We beat our chest, grunt a couple times, and blow something up. Depression may simply be the result of a chemical imbalance, at which point a simple prescription can address the situation. 

    God gives us wisdom, if you are depressed be wise and go see a doctor please. If we can get a remedy for other ailments talking to a doctor, it should be no different speaking to a one to address what is essentially ‘just’ another health concern.  Why do we treat depression and mental health as a whole different? It’s all health, it’s all our health. It is worth noting that the overall view of mental health is improving, however there is still a great deal of room for improvement 

     In 1 Corinthians 12:12 we’re given the presentation of the church as a functioning body;  

“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ.” Paul goes on to lay out the importance and intricacy of the body, eyes cannot hear so ears are important, ears cannot see so eyes are important.  Hands aren’t feet, so we need feet and the inverse is true as well.  The eye can’t say to the hand it doesn’t need it and the head can’t tell the feet they’re unnecessary. This is a very simplified version of what Paul lays out 

   

    Now I don’t know if you’ve noticed; when you suffer an injury, it can throw a lot of things out of whack.  Personally, I have broken my foot...twice. I then attempted to walk it of...twice. I’m a man, we walk everything off.  I heard a story from a comedian who took his Dad’s walk it off approach so seriously he once tried to walk off the runs, you can imagine how well that went. After breaking my foot, I had to go through a healing process, and one thing I noticed was a disunity.  My foot was broken, which meant I had to adjust how I walked which then meant changing the movement in my hips which meant changing my posture and arch in my back which swayed the angle of my shoulders which tilted my neck.  When my cast came off, I was a mess and had to go through three months of physio. 

     I bring this up as an illustration, and Paul touches on this further down in Corinthians;  

26 “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part rejoices, all the parts rejoice with it. 27 Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.”  I would like to emphasize for a moment on ALL OF YOU TOGETHER, that literally means EVERYONE! 

          In the church, not just pastors but our family as a whole need to be united.  If you’re rejoicing, let us all rejoice with you, likewise if you’re mourning let us all mourn with you as Paul puts it.  We’re all walking through our struggles, please do not feel like you have to walk alone. God designed us for relationship, and psychology has come to echo this design.  Research further solidifies that isolation is a detriment to our physical and mental health, and while secluding ourselves may be the reaction when dealing with depression it’s actual the reverse of what we require.  It’s an ironic downward spiral we may find ourselves entrenched within. 

  

     If you’ve ever felt unimportant, that’s a lie of the enemy and we reject that.  Paul warns us of the “stronghold and footholds of the enemy” throughout his letters, and with good reason. I used to go rock climbing regularly, and in climbing a foothold gives just enough traction to advance yourself; we have a momentary thought of “maybe I’m not good enough,” and the enemy can take that and build off of it. Ultimately building a stronghold (A stronghold is fortified structure or location), and keeping us prisoner to thoughts and an image not given to us by God.  We are made in the image of a loving and gracious God, and there is an enemy that will do anything to lead you to doubt that.