Being Depressed Isn’t the Same as Being Sad: Living in the Joy of the Lord

Last updated on: September 3, 2015 at 6:50 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Being Depressed Isn’t the Same as Being Sad: Living in the Joy of the Lord 2015-09-03T18:50:52-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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When you mean to help somebody, then it is good to know what ails them or you might kill them. Telling a person struggling with anorexia to cheer up and eat more is missing the point. Eating disorders often have little to do with food and much to do with other issues in a person’s life. Sometimes people are delivered by prayer, but often they face a long journey of getting well.

Being sick is not a sin . . . and this includes mental illness. Of course, like any traditional Christian, I also think sin is the root cause of all gratuitous suffering in the world. We broke it and the long redemption of the cosmos is on-going. Sin can also be the source of physical and emotional problems. A man who looks at porn does not have to look far to discern the source of some of his problems. Sin harms, demons exist, and prayer helps.

Depression, for those who do not understand what it is, often is confused with being sad. I have struggled with biological based depression (much better, thank you!) as family members continue to do. Sometimes this comes with sorrow, but often it does not. A person can be depressed and happy at the same time. What does this mean? Feelings are complicated and you can have more than one feeling at one time. Often a depressed person will feel depressed while simultaneously experiencing other (more positive) emotions. Obviously, severe depression can overwhelm everything, but it does not always do so. A man must acknowledge the good and the bad and not hide the bad. Life in Christ is good and full of joy regardless of my feelings.

This truth, and it is the truth, may make sincere people think they should slap a fake smile on their face and cover up their hurts. Lying is not good, not even to yourself. We do not have to tell everyone every hurt . . . too much information is one way to be selfish . . . but we do not have to pretend to jollity we do not feel. We can maximize the happiness in our emotions at a party, but we should never lie. A fake smile is worse than no smile.

A smile that is small, maximizing real joy in the happiness of others, is wonderful. We focus on the needs of others at that moment and not our own needs. We ask Jesus to help us and we are as happy as we can be so we don’t always draw attention to Our Problem. Yet there is a shallow, though good hearted type of Christian, who will ask: “What about the joy of the Lord?” Shouldn’t a mark of the Holy Spirit be the joy of the Lord? After all, once God said: “. . . Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

We sing it and if we are not careful, we will never look at the context. The whole verse should tell us that there is a context because we should not always eat fat and drink wine. Sometimes we are called to fast by the same Holy Spirit! The joy of the Lord is our strength because our own strength can be feeble. I need the joy of the Lord because my own joy fails me. I can always say the joy of the Lord is my strength, but that does not mean I am always jolly.

Just as Jesus was not “happy” in the Garden, so a Christian facing abortion, racism, human trafficking, social injustice, poverty, and pollution cannot always be cheerful. The man who can visit a battlefield or concentration camp and hum a cheery tune is a monster and no man. Jesus wept and we must weep as well as we look at the sinfulness of our sin and the brokenness of the world. I hate that the louche and the debauched prosper while the righteous are driven into poverty, because God hates it.

Many people are depressed because of the brokenness of the world. We serve a God who demands authentic reactions to real problems. That God is our joy, our only joy, is why I can party. The joy of the Lord is my strength and that strength sustains me.

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