The
cure to depression is in the body of Christ. This does not mean you will find
it in an institutional church, a particular denomination, or a specific
location. It means that, wherever two or three people gather together in Jesus’
name, Jesus will be there in the midst of these people.[1] His presence in the midst of his people, he as the head relating
through the people as his body, is all the cure for depression anyone will ever
need.
Are
there details and personal stories to work out? Absolutely! But it begins by
going where the cure is. It isn’t just “Jesus”! It is Jesus relating to us
through his body. His people are “a holy
temple in the Lord,” who are “being
built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”[2] Wherever God is doing his building program, the Spirit of the Lord
is there. And, as Paul wrote, “Now the
Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”[3]
Within
the body of Christ, where the Spirit of the Lord is working for freedom, we
have this beautiful description of God’s work among us that guarantees healing
for the depressed. Paul describes it like this, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For
this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”[4]
People who are “beholding the glory of the Lord” together
(because the depressed have difficulty doing this on their own), and feeling
the gracious work of transformation that changes us “into the same image” as our Savior, “from one degree of glory to another,” cannot stay depressed.
When
God’s word says that, “The LORD is near
to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit,”[5] we can confidently meet as the body of Christ to experience him
doing just that. He comes near, and he saves. When we are willing to be the
brokenhearted, and be the crushed in spirit, we will come to experience the
nearness and savingness of God in the church as we have never known it before.
Seek
to be part of the true church in Jesus’ name, and you will see people cured of
depression. It may not be the way your church presently does things, but it
will be the way God’s word says he does things.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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