Many Christians struggle with the idea of seeking help for emotional or relational issues.
They feel they should be able to overcome their problem if they just applied more faith ... or better faith.
And so they suffer on – and often in silence. They repeatedly ask themselves things like, “Why can’t I just let that go?” or “Why can’t I quit worrying?” or “If I believe God’s Word why am I so insecure?”
But what we often forget is that Christ came to restore our whole selves ... which includes the way we think, feel, relate, and live.
Between my Master’s and PhD I worked in the clinical staff of an inpatient psychiatric hospital on an adolescent unit. A fifteen-year-old girl was admitted to us manifesting psychotic symptoms – specifically, she was hallucinating and was episodically losing touch with the real world.
She was put on anti-psychotic medication. Yet two days later her symptoms had not improved. The staff was flummoxed. We couldn’t figure out why she was still exhibiting the same symptoms.
The patient reluctantly gave us the answer. Her parents had been telling her in their visits that unless she trusted God alone for her healing she would continue to get worse because of her lack of faith. To take the medication was an indication she was disobeying and doubting God, they told her.
So she had been cheeking her meds when they were administered and then flushing them down the toilet.
Mystery solved.
Let me state out of the gate that I understand completely why many Christians are everything from cautious to rejecting when it comes to psychology.
Over the years the hostility the field has shown to the spiritual life have been well documented. But this unfortunate reality has to do with the biases shown by practitioners in the past, and not from the field of psychology itself.
I think there is a bigger problem today, however. I’ve observed from first-hand experience that many believers still have an internal struggle about seeking help with emotional or relational issues. They feel that they should be able to overcome their problem if they just applied more faith ... or better faith.
And so they suffer on – and often in silence. They repeatedly ask themselves things like, “Why can’t I just let that go?” or “Why am I afraid to open up to my husband?” or “Why can’t I quit worrying?” or “If I believe God’s Word why am I so insecure?”
If this sounds familiar...
I would encourage you to realize that psychology is just a tool.
As such it is no threat to your faith.
If we were perfect people who had perfect trust in our Lord, I dare say we wouldn’t need this tool – just as if we had perfect eyes we wouldn’t need the tool of glasses, or if we had perfect legs we wouldn’t need the assistance of a walking cane.
But we aren’t perfect. We are fallen people in a fallen world ... and our tools help us.
Psychology is not the Truth. God’s Word is.
Psychology is not the answer to life’s problems. Jesus is.
It’s just a tool. But tools are useful things.
(This is why all of our courses are written with the same approach. They are biblically based but utilize the findings of this useful tool called psychology. Whether it’s our course on anxiety, or fear, or grief, or marriage, or controlling your thinking, and all the rest ... the philosophy behind that course is the same - biblically based while integrating psychological insights and findings.)
Some years ago I was attending the wake of a brother in Christ who was very dear to me. A woman I did not know came up to me and struck up a conversation. It soon became obvious that she knew I was a therapist and counselor.
I say it became obvious because in words that were not exactly veiled she expressed to me that what I did was not only suspicious but it just might indicate I was not a true follower of Christ.
That was fun.
The minister (for the funeral) was standing nearby. Apparently he overheard the conversa...errrr...lecture I was getting and decided to join in. “I tell my people that my counseling hours are between 11:30 and 12:00 on Sunday morning,” he said proudly.
Sheesh.
Let me give you a particular point to consider...
Nothing can be good for me spiritually and be bad for me psychologically. Likewise, nothing can be good for me psychologically and bad for me spiritually.
Mind and spirit are intended to work together.
If I have an experience that contradicts the above premise, then it is because I have encountered bad psychology or bad theology. Or both.
Be blessed,
In this world of ever-increasing “fakery” it matters to us that you know everything you read here grows out of our training, experience, and heart for helping hurting people. None of our content here, or in our courses and workshops, is artificially generated.