How To Manage Depression/Suicide - Follow UP
As I watched what I posted last year, I realized these last few weeks I have not been coping/managing, because I simply haven't been following these steps, which I believe every Christian ought to follow, since they stem from God's greatest commandments.
I have let my mind control me, instead of taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. I consider myself Christian in belief now, even if not in practice. The Bible appears to touch on the subject of holy living in various places. and it certainly touches on the subject of our identity following our esteem and worth as humans, as God's creation and his children. What I cover here today then is more like a footnote of the Biblical data. First and foremost as the United States Constitution appears to imply:
God is the foundational and unconditional prerequisite to all inherent identity and worth.
I rearranged my YouTube channel this week.
Here is why:
I choose to leave my self help/development videos and depression video at the top of my channel, as I want people to raise awareness about us severely depressed people who quite often gather together online in all kinds of places including here on YT, where no one really knows who we are , or what our issues are....we really need help from our local community and society, quite often we are secluded and introverted so it's hard to find us. We are humans just like the rest of you. We are even funny, awesome, social and talented. We want romance, we want love, we want acceptance. We need encouragement, we need help. Often many of my introverted depressed brothers and sisters are not aware of such amazing resources like Eric Thomas, Owen Cook, CT Fletcher, Tony Robbins etc.My heart goes to my fellow sufferers. Not just the ones in South America or Africa, or the streets of America and elsewhere, but to those of us everyday who find ourselves not wanting to really live, or us who are living, but not really alive. This can transform into a perpetual suffering that is truly agonizing. Yet there is a remedy.
I believe healthy living and well being are essential to the Christian life and to all human life in general, thanks to God's mercy and grace he has provided us with tools and guidance on our personal development from his word, creation and moral law and conscience, his reasoning along with aid and personal intervention on our spiritual journey to his kingdom. As Christians we are commanded to bear the fruit of Christ as imitators of Christ. If I'm incapable of acting as a minister of the spirit rather than of the flesh, how am I going to reveal Christ in me to the world?
A few verses that I ideas upon recently namely stem from Romans chapters 6-8 (which is by no means is an exhaustive Biblical list, but does seem to touch upon this issue):
For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. (Rom 8:18)...Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (for IF you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. (Rom 8:11-13)
And:
But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. (Rom 7:6)...But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of MY MIND and MAKING ME CAPTIVE the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Rom 7:23-25)Paul says to believing Christians: "IF you live according to the flesh, you will die". What does Paul mean here? Is he referring to physical death? Or perhaps the original adamic spiritual death? Perhaps everlasting permanent death known as hell or the lake of fire? I thought eating, sleeping and exercising were vital to living according to the flesh, this would certainly not cause death!
In my opinion Paul does not allude to any of these meanings. In context those of us who are adopted children of God will surely never be separated or cease to have God's love, we are justified, sanctified and glorified and therefore will not immediately die in any of these senses, yet Paul is still cautioning the Romans about death, so why?
Paul also says: "with my flesh I serve the law of sin". Does that mean Paul himself died by living according to the flesh? My answer, is at times. Paul employees various meaning in his understanding of life and death. For Paul the focus is on living holy, being able and empowered to follow God's Law. It follows then anything that reduces Paul's ability to follow God's perfect Law which provides complete spiritual fulfillment is reducing his own personal spiritual satisfaction and obstructing the well-being and healthy living given by following God's instruction.
For Paul there is a struggle with the flesh and the spirit, if the flesh controls this struggle, the body is winning, your thoughts are captive to the flesh, if you live according to this sense, you are spiritually and therefore mentally dead, because you are made captive, you are a slave, you are an alternative more limited, version of yourself. To have a carnal addiction is to be chained and trapped. If you are in chains, you aren't really you. At least you are not the full version of you in it's most absolute and freest sense. Christ came to give us life abundantly through his Spirit. Death here therefore refers to a physical habitual enslavement to biological stimulus, something other than God who you attempt to stem satisfaction from before God, in the Bible this is is otherwise known as idolatry. This in turn creates a spiritual void. Place God first, and then everything else will necessarily and progressively follow. What is the solution to this? It is to follow God's greatest commandment through the power of his Holy Spirit:
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus said to him, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Matthew 22:36-39)
Some actions that stem from these commands are:
The greatest among you will be your servant. (Matthew 23:11)And:
A dispute also started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. So Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called 'benefactors.'Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. (Luke 22:24-27)To love anything other than God before God, placing it first is going to deprive you from the source of all spiritual sustenance and life, God Almighty himself. This includes putting your body first. Putting your addictions first. Serving your own physical members and desires first. None of these things seem to provide genuine content in a context not commanded by God. That is until the perfect balance is made by giving God his rightful place as first before everyone and everything. Once God is perfectly placed in your life, as he ordered, you start to experience a heightened awareness of reality, the satisfaction of everything becomes more apparent. God has provided an intended context to enjoy sleep, food, sex and action/adrenaline. If you go to the source of all life to understand the context of your machine, the human body, the hardware and operating software can be updated, renewed and made perfect. But without this you are like a driver, without driving lessons, you eventually derive some grasp over how to use your car (body), and you learn as time goes on, but you never really harness of this machine and unlock the full potential until you read the Manuel or speak to the manufacturer or pioneer!
In Self Help this is known as complete commitment and discipline. perhaps over 1-5% will be successful making such a commitment:
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but If by the Spirit you put TO DEATH THE DEEDS OF YOUR BODY you WILL LIVE - Romans 8:13Amen and Amen! In Christ Alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment