Why Are There so Many Unhappy Believers?

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. As those who know God, if the joy of the Lord is your strength, and if he gives peace that passes understanding, why is it that many believers seem to be unhappy? This is a question we’re going to think about today. We thank the person who sent it in, and we are glad that you are joining us today. This is Grace In Focus. It is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We’re located in North Texas. And upcoming, we have our annual national convention. We’re still mentioning this. Time is getting close, but there’s still a chance for you to come and join us. It is at Camp Copas in Denton, Texas. A beautiful facility. We will be studying dispensationalism and free grace. And the dates are May 19th through the 22nd. Come on to our website. Get the information you need. Get registered today. We’d love to see you there. That’s faithalone.org. Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates.

SPEAKER 03 : 1:07

Welcome to Grace and Focus. You’re here with Ken Yates and his boss, Bob Wilkin. And he’s telling me what to do. And he says, we got this great question. And Bob, I’ll let you tell us who the question came from and what the question is.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:25

Okay, this question is from Brad, and it’s an email, and it’s got a couple of parts. But the first part is pretty interesting, and that is, what are some of the reasons why there are so many unhappy or miserable believers? What are some of the reasons why there are so many unhappy and miserable believers?

SPEAKER 03 : 1:47

Well, I would just start off by saying I think we need to say that sometimes, and there might be some people who don’t like this answer, but sometimes there’s a physical reason for it.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:59

Right.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:00

There may be a mental problem. issue going on, a mental health issue going on, and that could be part of the reason. And we’ve all heard stories like this. And just in my own life, I’ve known people, for example, who are believers who suffered—I’m thinking of one in particular who was bipolar. And there were times in her life where she was just in deep depression. And now it was interesting for her, in her case, she was able to take medication, and that made all the difference in the world. So I just say there’s sometimes people are unhappy. We might say the word depressed, and it’s a – an imbalance in their brain. Could be.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:51

Yeah. And that can be caused by lots of factors. Sure. I mean, for example, let’s say someone is a diabetic. And if that diabetic is not eating properly, it can cause them tremendous pain and suffering and even put them in a coma, of course. Sure. But like I have low blood sugar. If I don’t eat about every three hours, I get lightheaded. And today I waited until about 1.15 or 1.30 to eat lunch. I was shaking. I was so out of it. And I don’t feel right when I’m like that. You know what I mean? I just get, I’m not right. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m miserable, but I’m on my way.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:36

Another thing that’ll do that for anybody is insomnia. Yes. If a person does not sleep for a period of time, I don’t care who you are. It’s going to affect your mental well-being and how you feel, you know, and how you, yeah, I would say you’re going to be miserable. There’s going to be times that you’re miserable if you’re not sleeping.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:00

Now, Ken, I got a question for you. Okay. This is controversial because there are many people in Christianity who say that Christians don’t need any medication for insomnia. They don’t need medication for depression. They don’t need medication for bipolar. They don’t need medication for PTSD or for anything else because we just rely on the Holy Spirit. I don’t agree with that. Do you? Don’t you think?

SPEAKER 03 : 4:31

No, I don’t agree with that either.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:32

So what biblical basis do we have for using medicine in mental health issues?

SPEAKER 03 : 4:38

Well, I would say that that’s a physical… Now, obviously, this is a complicated issue. Certainly, we would say that there’s some people who take medication or over-prescribe medication in our country. You know, I think we would all agree with that. Right. But there are times when it’s no different. If there’s a physical thing that’s going on, it’s no different than if I, well, you mentioned low blood sugar. I’m assuming you take medication for that.

SPEAKER 02 : 5:05

No, I eat for that.

SPEAKER 03 : 5:08

Yeah, there’s some people who would do that. And my guess is the vast majority of Christians, as we get older, all of us are going to start taking medication of one kind or another. You know, you’ve got a problem with your thyroid or you’ve got a problem with cholesterol. And so if there’s a physical issue and it’s okay for me to take medication for that, well, if I have a physical problem with the dopamine or serotonin in my brain, and it needs to be regulated. Why do I make that distinction there?

SPEAKER 02 : 5:42

I agree. In fact, it seems to me I can’t really go to some verse that says it’s okay to take medication unless you say, remember Paul says to Timothy, take a little wine for your frequent stomach and other ailments? Right. Well, the wine purified the water, and so they would mix wine with water, and that would eliminate the, what would you call it, pollutants and bacteria and things like that that were in the water. But I think the principle is that God has given us all things to enjoy, and that would include medicine. In other words, I don’t just go to a doctor if I break my arm, right? I mean, I also go to a doctor, let’s say, if I have diabetes.

SPEAKER 01 : 6:29

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SPEAKER 03 : 7:04

And I’ll tell you, we can become very pharisaical about this. Like if someone says, okay, you can’t take any medication, well, you got to take natural herbs. Well, aren’t natural herbs medication? They are. I mean, if I’m taking an herb to whatever condition I have, but then I tell someone, no, you can take that, but you can’t take, you know, Synthroid or whatever, you know, if you have another issue. We can’t do that.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:30

Right, yeah, like I take a little bit of, what’s it called, the amino acid that can help you sleep? I can’t remember what it’s called. Is it melatonin? Yeah, melatonin. I take a third of a milligram because I find if I take one milligram, I have these wild dreams that are waking me up. It’s not that they’re necessarily nightmares, but they’re just too outlandish and they’re too much. They wake me up and they disturb me. So I can take a little bit of that. But without it, I still sleep, but I don’t sleep quite as well. And I know people take ashwagandha. That’s helpful. And L-theanine can be helpful for sleeping. Those are herbs. Of course, isn’t marijuana to some degree an herb?

SPEAKER 03 : 8:15

Yeah, I mean, people who take, what was it, THC, if they have glaucoma and stuff like that, you know, so… If a person is having pain, the glaucoma, and it’s causing damage in their eyes and they could take THC to alleviate that, I wouldn’t have a problem with that.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:31

Okay, let’s talk about this. What about some spiritual reasons why people are miserable? What are some of the spiritual reasons?

SPEAKER 03 : 8:39

Yeah, I think that’s probably where Brad is coming from. That’s probably the focus here is why are some Christians like that? And the short answer, of course, would be that once we remove the physical aspects of it, if there’s a physical reason for it, what about spiritual reasons why? And the short answer is… they’re out of fellowship with God. And certainly there are believers like that. There are believers who are out of fellowship with God. They’re walking according to the flesh, and they are miserable. And by the way, walking according to the flesh is not just, you know, I’m a drug addict or you know, hanging out with prostitutes and things like that, I think a legalist who is walking according to the flesh, you know, or according to the law, and has a critical attitude of others, they’re going to be miserable.

SPEAKER 02 : 9:32

Yeah, isn’t that what Galatians says? That’s the book of Galatians.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:35

And Romans as well, right? Yeah. When Paul’s talking about how he lived according to the law and tried to do it, and he died. Now, what does it mean that he died? Well, he even describes it. Oh, miserable man that I am. So if I’m living according to the flesh in whatever way I’m living according to the flesh, it’s going to affect my mental condition, you know, how I feel. And a believer can certainly feel that way.

SPEAKER 02 : 10:02

Well, I was going to say, Dr. Frank Minereth, who is a psychiatrist that taught for many years at Dallas Seminary, I had him for some counseling courses at Dallas Seminary, and he wrote an article for our journal, Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, and he talked about the psychological impact of lordship salvation. And he argued that lordship salvation causes believers to be miserable.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:30

Yeah, and that goes back to the legalism, the judgmental attitude. One of the friends of GES, Ellie, is a psychiatrist, and she’s talked about the same thing, the mental anguish that lordship salvation causes people. And I mean, just think about it. If I’m always comparing myself to others to see if I’m saved, or if I’m always looking at myself to see if I’m good enough, there’s going to be days where I determine I’m not good enough. Right. And what impact is that going to have on my mental health? What impact is that going to have on my sleep? And by the way, this could combine both of them. There could be a spiritual reason why you feel lousy. And if you start having terror and fear because you’re worried you’re going to go to hell because you don’t measure up, that can affect your sleeping patterns and everything else. So you can have physical reasons for feeling lousy and you can have spiritual reasons for feeling lousy.

SPEAKER 02 : 11:26

And both. Yeah. Let’s close, Ken, with this. How can we help believers who are unhappy, miserable? How can we help them? Say you’re a pastor and they come to you and they’re struggling.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:37

How do you help them? I think it’s perfectly legitimate for a pastor or a friend if someone is struggling and you suspect it may be a physical reason for them to get help. Yeah. Physically, you know, to go to a doctor. And if it’s a physical reason, they can get the help. Like, for example, I’ll just tell you, I had some years ago, I had a struggle with insomnia for four or five months. And I went to a sleep specialist and he gave me things to do. Screen time and everything made a huge difference. Now, if it’s a spiritual reason, obviously the scriptures, obviously the grace of God. Right. You know, if they’re struggling with lordship, salvation, the gospel of John. Right. You know, and being around believers who are sound doctrinally and they can help you in this area.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:27

That’s a good point. We encourage one another, Hebrews 10, 23 to 25, by gathering together, and we encourage one another as we like-minded believers fellowship together. Absolutely.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:41

There’s help out there physically and spiritually if you’re feeling lousy. And unfortunately, there are a lot of people in our churches who, for both reasons, feel that way. And we can help them. We can help them.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:51

Amen. Well, thank you, Brad. Thank you all. And remember, Ken, let’s keep grace in focus. Amen.

SPEAKER 01 : 13:01

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