From September 26 through November 21 I will be preaching on mental health in a series called Peace of Mind in Christ. The anchor verse is Philippians 4:7.
The late preaching professor and author, Fred Craddock wrote: “The peace which the church can know, the sense that all is well, does not have its source within — there is dissension — nor without — there is opposition but in God. In a striking paradox, Paul describes this peace with a military term: The peace of God ‘will stand sentry watch’ over your hearts and minds” (Craddock, Philippians, 72).
With the peace of God keeping or guarding our hearts and minds in Christ, caring for our mental health is an act of loving God.
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’ (Matthew 22:37).
Caring for our mental health is something we do with God’s help and it is a great struggle.
One-third of years lived with disability worldwide are due to mental illness, making mental ill-health by far the leading cause of disability. If we are fortunate enough not to experience mental illness ourselves, we all have friends, family and colleagues who do (Isabelle Hamley, Christopher C. H. Cook, The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health, xvi).
According to the World Health Organization, mental health may be defined as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’ (The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health, 54).
For people of faith, that state of well-being or peace of mind is found in the grace, forgiveness, and love of God in Jesus Christ.
We approach mental health care with the perspective that it’s not a simple fix, it’s not a single prayer, it’s not a solitary procedure. It involves a living relationship with God, our neighbors, ourselves, and the Bible. The stigma of mental illness was addressed by Kevin Fisher:
Mental illness is a medical diagnosis, not a personal weakness. (Kevin Fisher, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) — Michigan Chapter)
In this series, we will seek to encourage each other to think in healthy ways about ourselves, to “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3; New Living Translation). This means that we discover or return to the faith that God loves us, God has gifted us with faith, and God has started a good thing in us that can continue to grow.
In the verse that follows our anchor verse for the series, the apostle Paul writes, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
We approach mental health care with the call to remember to take account of these things, make sure they are included in an account of our conditions and situations and put them alongside our mental struggles to fill out the picture of ourselves and the world.
And we remember that we belong to God and are connected to one another as we seek peace of mind in Christ. We care for our mental health in the context of supportive communities. We were not meant to do this alone.