Mental health as a concept is used to justify not dealing with problems and also avoiding responsibilities—even divine ones like the vocation of being a husband, wife, or parent. But the mind is not like the body. The idea that not burdening the person with problems runs counter to how physical health is respected in our world.
A good physical therapist does not help the one undergoing therapy to avoid all pain and suffering. It is quite the opposite. If there is no soreness, challenge, or difficulty, there is no potential strength to be gained. The body must be pushed beyond the limits of comfort if it is to improve, recovering to an even stronger state. Yes, the body must not be destroyed and torn apart to achieve growth—but targeted exercises must be a struggle to some extent. What is easy and without any strain is without physical benefit—a waste of time.
But the modern worship of mental health often sounds like an excuse to not deal with real problems in a cursed world. The avoidance of dealing with difficulties and reasonable loads causes atrophy and decay. But what is weakness mentally? It seems to be a justification used to not deal with the harshness of life in a world turned upside down by sin.
Using the body analogy shouldn’t we be exposing people to moderate and appropriate burdens, to prepare them for the great challenges of life? Do we want the “weaker” to be stronger, as in more resilient and able to handle challenges to one’s expectations? Do we decide what we can handle or does life reside outside our mental capacity? Broken mentally is quite different than a torn muscle or ligament. One is objective—the other a personal judgment without objective measures or testing procedures. The mental health industry offers no hope of increasing strength since it elevates internal weakness and makes external difficulties the problem, rather than deiceitful hearts.
The real problem behind the goal of mental wholeness—is that the mind is worshipped above the true God. Our minds cannot comprehend the future or what we actually can endure. Moderns are indoctrinated into the assumption that a person’s life is his to control and they alone must decide what they can do and the level happiness they deserve. So weakness is merely a personal choice—others are called to respect, without any hope of improvement or change.
Mental disorders and diagnoses seem to have multiplied exponentially in our day. But identifying problems and appealing to mental health merely aggravates the perceived unfairness. There is no hope or good news in the scientific approach to one’s mental state. In previous generations PTSD and depression and all manner of internal reasons for not being productive were not available. War did not destroy older generations—because life was not about them and their thoughts not held sacred. Their expectations, for the most part, did not prevent them from living, working, sacrificing in a family, and being productive.
Life is presented as easier physically today, but mentally it is almost unbearable, for most, it seems. Is it because we are so weak and untested that we cannot handle it when our plans and ideals are not put on a pedestal by the Almighty in a fallen world? It is mostly a spiritual problem—not a medical one. The rating of our own mental health and capacity for suffering is just a silly mental figment—a product of a sinful mind that is a fruitless endeavor. To be healthy mentally—means what? That one feels good and at peace with oneself? That is worthless as an indicator of a person’s life. It tells no story of what they are doing or confessing.
God the Father disciplines us—and our thoughts of earthly peace and being at home in a cursed body are destroyed by unforeseen problems, trials, and persecutions. The basic requirements of family duties teach one that our thoughts of comfort are not primary. But that contradicts the religion of mental health so lifted up in our day. That is why parents should not shield children from difficulties and problems in the world. They will face big ones—they can either do bravely, trusting in the Gospel of Christ, or thinking it is unfair, and judge God by what they think is too difficult. Our understanding of what we think our limits are is sinful, since we are sinners through and through. Dependence and helplessness are not weakness or mental enemies, as the world thinks—it is the way to true strength: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).
We don’t know what we are capable of, but our Lord who calls us individually to faith does. Death to sin is not an exciting and mentally stimulating experience. It is not a decision we make because it is attractive. Death is not self-chosen. The Christian submits to the cross that Christ presents—picking up what Christ lays upon us. Jesus is greater than our thoughts and hearts. What we think is too much for us—limits the goodness of our God to see us through safely, putting our mental flitterings above the all-sufficiency of our merciful God. Mental pride prioritizes the present over the eternal. The mind cannot rationally compare present difficulties to invisible, unexperienced glories. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).
Trials, as we are seen through them by our God, lead us to trust in the Son more than our fears. They are necessary and so our sinful expectations must be destroyed and put to death. Our weakness—the inablility to rationalize temporary escape from pain and tribulation—allows ample room for God’s strength to sustain us. We are die to our godless mental products which want to exercise authority over God’s Word. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).
No one likes painful training and burdens for their own sake—our love of what we want now (mentally prejudged in sinful ways) naturally exceeds our love of God and His eternal promises. Our sinful thoughts will not trust in God to provide and see us through all trials, so weakness is not to be glorified. It is beneficial, however, to go through what seems to be impossible and outrageous to our limited, rational vision, relying not on our supposed capacity to handle something, but rather the cross of Christ which reveals God’s love in all circumstances. We are to trust the mind of Christ over our depraved minds. Amen. —ed.
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