God Comforts the Depressed

“In an increasingly widely disseminated TED Talk titled 'Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong,' British journalist Johann Hari discusses the available research into the underlying causes of addiction and concludes, rather brilliantly, that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it’s connection. His statement echoes a theme that I and many 21st Century addiction specialists have espoused for years — that addiction is not about the pleasurable effects of substances, it’s about the user’s inability to connect in healthy ways with other human beings. In other words, addiction is not a substance disorder, it’s a social disorder.”This blog is not about addiction, but rather connection; specifically, it’s about lacking a connection the God of the Universe designed human beings to have with Him. We might call it “fellowship”. According to my iMac dictionary, fellowship is defined as:  “friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests.” The greatest fellowship is enjoyed by believers, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). What the Bible tells us is that this fellowship with our Creator is the sweetest result of having been saved by Him. However, this blog isn’t about fellowship, but rather about what it means when someone lacks it.To borrow from Mr. Weiss, “addiction is not a substance disorder, it’s a social disorder.” Biblical fellowship is a social concept by design and to borrow from Mr. Hari, “the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it’s connection.” Both men are advocating the same truth. What they are getting at is something the Word of God also speaks to, as I just referenced in scripture, though you may not see it yet.We were all born with a hole in our hearts (I’m speaking figuratively, of course), at odds with our Creator - we were born dis-connected (the opposite of connected, to reference Mr. Hari’s words). The only thing that will ever be able to fill that void is a loving relationship with God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).Mankind is born in the condition where sweet fellowship with his own true Lord is impossible until he is saved. In light of this truth, I often think about what it must be like to live every day in the absence of said fellowship. It must be the most dissociated feeling possible, living disconnected from someone we know deep down inside that we should be connected to, primitively. It must be infinitely worse than the proverbial fish out of water, or a person gasping for oxygen because they are drowning. I don’t think there’s an analogy powerful enough to illustrate what the Bible describes as the essential aspect of the depravity of man, that is, spiritual death (aka separation from God).A depraved person is a depressed person.A depressed person is a candidate for addiction.Therefore, it makes total sense why even secular experts like Weiss and Hari are coming to these conclusions about addiction and connection. It makes sense that people who lack connection with others feel the need to numb the pain. It makes sense that if the connection is broken with their Creator, the greatest sense of desperation and even depression should be expected. I look around and that is precisely what I see in this world - a bunch of disconnected people trying to fill the hole in their hearts in myriad ways that’ll never work - it’s futility, by definition. Left untreated, futility ultimately results in exhaustion, which is the precursor to depression. No wonder so many people are clinically diagnosed as depressed. The remedy is a connection with God.Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.The value of being delivered from the depravity we were born into cannot be overstated. I’m not sure how anyone whose heart isn’t completely hardened would ever be able to live without Christ and not be depressed. Heck, even for a believer like myself, the surest way to depression is to lose sight of my Lord. Whenever I’m feeling down, I inevitably realize that I’ve lost my perspective on my relationship with God. It must be utterly horrible to not have the ability to turn back to Him daily and enjoy His lovingkindness; yet, that is how an unbeliever exists.The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.As believers, we get to hold onto such promises. May we never take them lightly. The Word tells us that we never lack someone to turn to when we’re feeling low, for we always have God. Through our salvation, we have been reconciled to Him, able to delight in the sweet fellowship that only He can offer. We are eternally connected, He with us, and therefore we already possess the means of escape from depression and its ugly cousin, addiction.Let us pray for those still walking around with a gaping hole in their heart. Let us pray that, in their depression, the lost will seek a connection with God through Christ, for we know that He will bring them all the way to the depths of their depravity to prove His grace and love for them. Let us pray that “God, who comforts the depressed” (2 Corinthians 7:6a), might use us in some way to witness, to His glory.Lord, give us the courage and the strength to speak about why so much depression exists in this world; guide us, our thoughts and our words, and keep us from judging others in the process. And may we never lose our sense of purpose and compassion for others.I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.Love in Christ,Ed Collins