In his wonderful little book Interior Freedom, Jacques Philippe, builds on a running theme you’ll find throughout his oeuvre – how to suffer as Christian.
Let me preface this by saying – if you’re suffering, look for help. There are treatments available.
But sometimes all the treatments in this world can fall short, and that can be additionally depressing until we realize that the world is not our home, that as long as we’re living in it, suffering is here and is sort of part of the deal.
Wherever you find yourself, for whatever reason, you’re reading this site, and you know what it’s like.
“Refusing to suffer means refusing to live.
Present-day culture, through advertising and the media, serenades us endlessly with its ‘gospel’: avoid suffering at all costs, seek pleasure alone. It neglects to say that there is no surer way of making oneself unhappy than by doing just that.
Suffering should be remedied whenever possible, but it is =part of life, and attempting to get rid of it completely means suppressing life, refusing to live.”
In light of all this, he then offers some practical advice:
“We need to develop this kind of realism and, once and for all, stop dreaming of life without suffering or conflict. That is the life of heaven, not earth. We must take up our cross and and follow Christ courageously every day; the bitterness of that cross will sooner or later be transformed into sweetness.”
He finishes a long stretch this way:
“We must make acts of faith…. the attitude expressed by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord’.”
In another book, Trusting God in the Present, he gets even more into the “HOW DO I, LORD?!!” of the day-to-day of suffering that seems inexplicable and endless, and asks us to ask ourselves this question each morning.
“In this life it is sometimes absolutely necessary that we consent to go forward without understanding.
…. when preoccupied with a question to which you can’t find the answer, ask yourself: ‘Do I absolutely need an answer to that in order to know how I should live my life today?’
You’ll realize that you usually don’t.
….We accept the situation as it is, without aiming to understand it entirely and ask, ‘What does God want of me here? What is the right way to live through this? Which part of the Gospel am I called by this situation to put into practice now? What acts of faith and hope, what progress in love, am I being asked to make today.”
Note that: “What acts of faith and hope, what progress in love, am I being asked to make today?“
Jesus always emphasized the immediate in light of our eternal future. Yes, the latter is our hope. But today is the day we live. “Today is the day of the salvation,” “give us this day our daily bread.”
There’s a synergy between the Scripture of ancient times and psychology of now that says of suffering, “Stop all this stuff about tomorrow and focus only on what’s now.” Or as Elisabeth Elliot famously said of her incomprehensible suffering, “Do the next thing.”
But there’s also a difference between the Scripture and psychology you might read on X.
Without Christ, there’s ultimately a slow drain of purpose from ceaseless suffering.
There’s a reason we long for purpose. God put it there, and he put us here for a purpose.
If we see ourselves consenting to whatever is going on today, and if we apply that simple heuristic: “What can I do that shows faith, hope, and love today,” then both today will be changed, as well as our future days.
Now having said that, I will say two things.
First, it has genuinely blessed, motivated, and filled me with purpose on the darkest days to simply pare it down to “Okay, God, what simple small thing can I do today that shows faith, hope, and love?”
I can’t think of anything more centering.
Second, I can’t pretend that’s going to provide you centering today, because often, I still sink into a kind of nihilistic depression, wherein lofty thoughts themselves just grow wearisome.
When Hezekiah was struck down with sickness, depression, darkness, he said his eyes grew weary looking upwards, and yeah, in the midst of perpetual suffering, sometimes upward feels looking at dark sky and not divine hope.
Don’t feel shame over that. In fact, the greatest acts of faith are when we struggle for faith and still choose to turn to and not away from God.
So just as the Bible is brutally honest about suffering, I don’t want to portray a blue-sky Christianity for your everyday.
I mean, you’re reading this. You’re here. You know this. You’ve felt it. And, whether they admit it or not publicly, every Christian has faced this.
Nevertheless, I can’t think of a mental map that’s helped me more on the everyday than the one Philippe offers: Right now, how can I advance faith, hope, and love?
Maybe the suffering is a given today, but what can we try to give to those we love? To the God we serve.
The Spirit will tell each of us different things, depending on our circumstances, but there is no more grounding ground than the foundation of Christ.
And finally, I have to mention, once again, that depression and mental health issues are actually “brain health” and medical conditions and sometimes medical treatment will enliven your spiritual life in radical ways. I’d be dead if it weren’t for my antidepressant.
And praise God for antidepressants that work, and therapy that enlivens.
But primarily, praise God for the salvation that promises to one day wipe away every tear and use each of those drops as redemptive washing, for the here, and the forever.
If you live in the United States and struggle with depression, anxiety, or any other such disorders…
Find a psychiatrist here.
Find a therapist here.
For readers, internationally, I pray you can find help from a local resource.
For salvation, Christ and Christ alone.
