If I wadded up a $50 bill, would you still want it? If I rubbed it in dirt, would you take it? Of course you would! No matter how much damage you do to a $50 bill, its value doesn’t change. It’s still worth $50.28
The same is true for people who are struggling with mental illness. No matter how sick people are, God still loves them. God still values them. We should, too.
4. We get well within relationships.
No one has all of the solutions to mental illness. But we have each other. This is where the church really shines. We’re better together.
Galatians 6:2 tells us to reach out to those who are oppressed and fulfill Christ’s law of love. Mental illness tends to create isolation. It’s one of the most tragic ways mental illness impacts people’s lives. Nothing is worse for someone who is struggling with mental illness than to be isolated from others.
Our churches must become places where people can be honest about their mental illnesses. We need to become places of hope and refuge for broken people. Too often people with mental illnesses must wear masks everywhere they go. Let our churches become the places where people with mental illness can discover they will never be alone again.
5. What isn’t healed on earth will be healed in heaven.
That’s good news that’ll keep all of us pressing on when this kind of ministry gets difficult (and it will). We can’t give up. We can’t stop helping—because this world isn’t the end of the story.
But I’ve read the end of the book. We win. We win against illness. We win against brokenness. Revelation 21:4 reminds us that one day God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Pastor, the men and women struggling with mental illness need to know this. They need to know that mental illness will not win.
I believe we’re just at the beginning of what God wants to do through the church to minister to those with mental illness. With these five truths as the core of our mandate, God will use the church to heal the broken and battered of this world.
Know that we’re praying for you and pulling for you in this work!
This article on dealing with mental illness originally appeared here.
