 Hey guys, what's up? Welcome back to the Daily Disciple Channel. My name is Isaac, and today we're going to be talking about, should Christians get depression? And this topic really originated from just the vastness, I think, of depression in our culture nowadays. For me personally, yeah, I've had belts of what you might call depression, but it's kind of a term that we're kind of confused about. We're like, okay, you're depressed, who has depression, how do we react to that? If you have depression, how do you deal with that? Should Christians get depression? There's lots of questions around this topic, and sometimes we may feel ill equipped to really talk with our friends about it and really help people that are experiencing it. So there's kind of two topics here. One, kind of how do you deal with it personally, and then how do we, as Christians, really respond to it and treat it and understand it. And I think that's going to be the take of this video. There's going to be another video hopefully soon, kind of with the other, like how do you deal with it personally, what are some things you can do. But for now, I just want to kind of understand, should Christians get depression? What is depression? And let's dig into that now. Okay, so I'm reading here from Google because we all know Google is the best place to get information, and it's always trustworthy. That's a joke, that's sarcasm. Okay, anyway, this is the definition, feeling of severe despondency or dejection synonyms with it is melancholy, misery, sadness, unhappiness, sorrow, woe, gloom. It's this kind of idea in this, just this kind of concept that you're just like, you're just down, you're just heavy, you're just, you kind of, I don't know, not complacent, but despondent in a way. This idea that, yeah, you just, it's something's not right there, right? Something's not right. And it's not just like, oh, I'm sad because, you know, my favorite sports team lost the game. It's something more than that. So we know there's some components to it. I just want to point some things out that I think are not necessarily causes, because that's what I want us to get away from in regard to this issue of depression, because for us, for somebody like me, it can be really tempting to just say, okay, look in your life, figure out what you're doing wrong, bingo. Okay, that's the cause. That's why you're depressed. But I think with depression and a lot of other issues, it's important to look and understand that it's not just one cause, it's not just one issue. And we'll talk about that more in a little bit. So in regard to, okay, why, why is this person experiencing depression? I think there's a number of factors at work or can be at work. And the first ones I like to go to, and I think they're the ones that we have the most control over if I can put it that way. And I want to be honest in saying this, I'm not an expert on this stuff. And I'd never approach this channel or any of the topics on this channel as an expert because I'm not, I'm just a young guy trying to figure this stuff out, doing some research, really exploring what it means to be a disciple and really pulling in a lot of different thoughts and ideas and focusing on what the Bible says and biblical truth and all that kind of stuff. So I'm not an expert in this. So that's just a little precursor. I'm going to explain some stuff that I've read and hopefully it's helpful to you. So going back to what I was just saying before I made that little interruption, I think the one of the causes or some of the impacting factors on our own soul are what we believe about ourselves, what we believe about others and what we believe about God. And often these things are lies that we believe about ourselves, lies we believe about others, lies we believe about God. You think about how those lies can shape your mood and the way that you live life. If you believe God is just out there to get you, that there really is no hope in the universe because God doesn't care about you. That could cause what we could call depression. But these lies can really impact the way we live our lives. If you just feel like, oh, it's hopeless. Nothing is going to work out for me. Everything is against me. People hate me. You know, I'm a terrible person. I suck. You know, these things can really impact the way we see ourselves. And where I like to start is our relationship with God. How do we see God? How do we see ourselves before God? That's where I like to start in terms of this conversation. Because when we do have a distorted perspective of that relationship, yeah, that can really contribute to feelings of depression and and anxiety and all that kind of stuff. So I think that's one area and one area of factors that we can look at. Another kind of area of factors that kind of contribute to this, possibly contribute to a kind of depression is this idea of soul in the areas of hurt that have occurred at the soul level. We think about, you know, people that have been abused or really have gone through some heartache or some kind of loss in some way. These things have a deep impact at a soul level. They're not just things that stay at the surface. So it's understandable how these things could really contribute to, yeah, depression and sorrow and sadness and and just kind of a lifestyle of just or a season of just being down and being sad. Those are some other factors that we should really understand. The last kind of section of factors is body. And I think this is the one that we maybe as Christians don't like to talk about as much because it's a little bit confusing to us and it's not as easy. I said earlier that we really like to, you know, look for one cause. Because if we find that one cause, then we've solved the problem and we've found a solution and all this kind of thing. But in terms of the body and things like imbalances, hormonal imbalances, just brokenness overall inside the body that causes the our mood to be shifted or causes us to be leaning one way in terms of, oh, I have a more of a tendency toward this kind of depression or anxiety. We should acknowledge that we should understand that. And if you have more tendencies toward anxiety, I'm not saying it's only on your biological makeup, but that could really be a factor and we should really begin to understand that. So is depression just a sin issue? Is it just an issue that we just need to shape up and start, you know, believing God and then we'll stop having depression will feel better and all this kind of thing. I don't think it's just a sin issue. It can be as anything can be a sin. Anxiety can be a sin issue. Depression can be a sin issue. But I think what we need to be going into it, especially with our friends or if you're experiencing yourself, is this idea, okay, look, there can be many factors at work here. Let's really begin to methodically understand what we're going through and what other people are going through. Because there can be lots of factors at work. It's not just about, well, believe God and you'll feel better because there's brokenness on the inside. Just like there's brokenness on the outside. We get sick. We break our leg. We get a twisted ankle. And just like the inside, we have, you know, tendencies toward depression, feeling sad, and, and these thoughts that aren't good. And as much as we try to reframe our perspective, there's healing that needs to take place there. And as Christians, I think we should be the first ones that should say, Yes, let's help that healing take place because we know God can heal and he does heal. But just like he does not heal every, you know, outside physical ailment, he doesn't heal necessarily every inside ailment that we experienced before, you know, we go to heaven. And there's things that we have to battle with on earth that we have to struggle with that's going to be painful as a result of the brokenness that we have. So I think I want to just kind of give you that over overview of those different factors. I'm not trying to overemphasize any one of them. It's just a matter of understanding kind of all of them and not that that was an extensive list. But I think that gives us a good framework for understanding. Look, there's lots of causes at work here and Christians can experience depression. A lot of them do. And for us, as their friends and as people and their churches, and as their family members, I think it's important that we go into these situations of conversation with love and grace and not this attitude. Well, we got to figure out and we got to fix you right now, because it's not that easy. But we know we don't have to live in bondage, even though we struggle with things on earth inside and out, we know that we can continue to battle and call upon God to help us. A famous past preacher whose name was Charles Spurgeon. They called him the Prince of Preachers. He experienced a lot of depression throughout his life, somebody that was so committed to preaching God's word faithfully to speaking into the culture in his day. And yet he experienced depression. And I think that's an important example that we should really, okay, take in and not understand. Oh, well, if you have depression, you're weak. Or if you have mental issues, you're kind of, you know, lower than us because we got and pass that stuff. No, we can understand that look, we all have our issues, we all have the areas of our life that are broken. And God continues to restore those areas and bring those things under his dominion. And we can continue to call on his name because Christians have anxiety, Christians have depressions, depression, Christians have emotional hurt. But we know where we can go for healing. We know where we can go. And I want to just encourage you, if you're struggling with these things, if you know someone who is begin that process of going to him, of seeking him in these things, of perceiving his presence in your life, and really begin that process. If this video helped you in some way, I encourage you to subscribe to this channel. I'm putting out two videos a week, all helping you become an authentic, inspired, and passionate disciple of Christ. So please subscribe and I'll see you next time.