From my book, Discovering God’s Grace in Depression, Chapter 35: Responding to Grace

“Living the Christian life works great, as long as your mind is healthy, because together, in divine cooperation with the Holy Spirit, you have the ability to hold it together and be self-controlled. When the body and mind are no longer working well, and can’t maintain that control, then what? The church frequently believes, that someone who isn’t ACTING spiritual, is UNSPIRITUAL. Follow that to its logical conclusion and they believe depression is disobedience, thus sinful.

“But there is no doubt about it; there are still ways to obey God, in depression. It just might look different than the average believer. First, what if God calls some to obedience, by demonstrating good behavior, but He calls others to weakness. If we accept our limitations, in meekness, and surrender, and rest heavily on the finished work of Jesus Himself, I believe God is pleased.

Second, I know a lot of supposedly righteous individuals, (preachers), whose postings on social media, I am ashamed to read. They may read their Bible every day, (Righteous? Check!), pray every day, (Righteous? Check!), visit the sick every week, (Righteous? Check!), know their theology back and forth, (Righteous? Check!), but viciously lambast the sinner on Facebook, taunting and harassing them, by threatening the punitive nature of God! What?! This is NOT RIGHTEOUS! This is cruelty, and pushes the sinner AWAY from God. They arrogantly glorify their OWN righteousness, and have no hesitancy in doing so.

But then, there is a depressed person, who lies in bed inconsolably, deluded by thoughts of unlovability and unacceptability, is unsociable, is inhospitable, doesn’t read the Word, (can’t), doesn’t pray, (can’t), is irritated and frustrated, (can’t help it), but in the quiet moments, she breathes out, “Lord, I can’t do this anymore. I’m weak. I need Your help. Help me surrender to Your will and the plans You have ordained for me. Help me persevere. Help me love You more.”

“Which one of these saints is the obedient one? Which one is righteous? Which one is holy and pure? Neither! They are both sinners. They are both obedient to the Lord in some areas, but not in others. While I do know that religious pride and self-righteousness makes the Lord sick, the truth is, I had plenty of moments in depression that I wasn’t proud of either.

“While I’ll never claim that the depressed are the most obedient of saints, there are times when there are movements of the Spirit within their hearts, when there is a calm tranquility, when they can sense the presence of God, when they respond quietly in their own hearts, “I need You, Lord.”

“In their weakness, I believe there is a depth of obedience in these saints (the depressed), that others will never see or know. These saints, who fight back the feelings of un-spirituality, (like enduring the scarlet letter, that was placed on them, by the outwardly obedient), who humbly reach out for Jesus to help them, may, in fact, be more like the sinners Jesus longed to spend time with. It’s just something to think about. “

Discovering God’s Grace in Depression, Chapter 35: Responding to Grace

“In their weakness, I believe there is a depth of obedience in these saints (the depressed), that others will never see or know. These saints, who fight back the feelings of un-spirituality, (like enduring the scarlet letter, that was placed on them, by the outwardly obedient), who humbly reach out for Jesus to help them, may, in fact, be more like the sinners Jesus longed to spend time with. It’s just something to think about.”