Today sin is called sickness, so people think they need therapy, not repentance.
Granted, the science of psychology can be rather humanistic in its approach. But does that mean we need to reject it entirely, or all the more reason to temper it with sound doctrine? So let’s unpack this idea to see what our attitude should be.
The quote revolves around sin, and Jesus revealed that sin originates in the heart. (Matthew 15:19) Where Isaiah 61:1 says that the Messiah would bind up the brokenhearted. A strong indicator that the state of our heart has much to do with how and why we sin. But remember, Biblically speaking the heart is more about personality and the dwelling place for the spirit than emotion. So being brokenhearted is equal to being broken in spirit and personality, not just feelings. Since repentance is more of a change of heart than just a change of action, this starts to make the ideas of therapy and repentance not as distinct and mutually exclusive as the quote would have you believe. Since repentance requires going deeper than a mere choice.
Yet for those who don’t know this, repentance just sounds like “Stop It.” We as the church should have a better understanding of sin and how to combat it than just “Stop It.” Otherwise, we are just rubbing salt in the wounds of the brokenhearted. Yet that is about as far as it goes for staunch legalists. Which makes about as much sense as telling someone to just stop having a headache.
This brings me to my next point. I do believe sin is not a sickness in itself, but rather a symptom of a sickness of heart if you will. A quick but temporary way of dealing with our brokenness in many cases. Yet since we often try to over-simplify the gospel by skipping over the process of discipleship, we don’t allow ourselves to look deeper than “Stop It,” and never get to the broken heart of the issue. So we keep repeating the same mistakes due to the lack of true healing necessary to overcome. This can lead to faking it rather than repentance. True repentance works best when done in conjunction with some self-awareness and humility. All positive change begins with an honest confession of our situation after all. Whereas just dealing with the surface allows all the underlying issues to rot and fester within, magnifying the sickness. The church should know better than this because Scripture teaches us better than that.
Yet if you want to know where emotions fit into it all, you have to look to the soul. The word is not as synonymous with spirit, as many seem to believe. Rather the soul is more closely tied to the mind, thoughts, and emotions. If you did a keyword search of the word emotion in the Bible, you get zero results. Yet you find nearly one hundred of the word soul and seven hundred of the word heart. My point is, that our own ignorance of such things has not served us well in caring for the heart or soul; I.E. personality or mind. So we don’t know where to draw the line when “denying self.” Even those who preach self-denial with zeal seem to be full of pride and arrogance. For example, the central quote seems to have an attitude of superiority as it accuses the least of these, there is no humility in that. (Matthew25:40,45) These attitudes are absolutely crossing the line into the sinful nature of the flesh that should be denied. So why are we listening to them concerning our cross? (Luke 9:23-25)
When we don’t know where to draw the line, it leads us to try and jump from the initial glory of salvation, straight to sinless perfection. Not realizing that the glory of righteousness is dependent upon the glory of wholeness. If we don’t go from glory to glory, we are not experiencing God’s ever-increasing glory. So obviously we aren’t engaging in the process of true discipleship, or being transformed into His likeness. (2nd Corinthians 3:18)
With this upsurge of mental health issues, we as the church have an opportunity to genuinely help the brokenhearted least of these. Of course, that means getting involved, not just pointing a finger from the sideline. Plus, we can’t offer soul care to anyone, if we have avoided facing our own brokenness ourselves. We can only offer a painted-on surface righteousness that is merely a different, and less trendy shade of paint that the world is offering right now. Again, we as the church should know better, and have nothing to do with such a superficial dumbed down gospel.
Deep Down I’m sure we all realize that healing can come painfully. That it requires facing the scars in our hearts, the very things we are avoiding. Perhaps that is why we try to turn repentance, salvation, and casting our anxiety into a dodge, instead of an opportunity to mature. If we truly got back to in-depth heart-level repentance, then maybe so many wouldn’t need therapy after all.
The Visual PARABLEist
As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” 1st Samuel 1:12-16
“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”-Romans 2:4
