Pride and Fall

Pride is a heart-attitude sin that overflows into a person’s motivation, decision-making, and activities. Pride is at the root of nearly every problem we struggle with in counseling!

The heart of pride is focused on “self.” Prideful people believe they deserve better than what life has brought them. They become sorrowful, resentful, and even jealous of other people and their successes. Pride breeds self-pity, which is a major component in depression. Typically, people who
struggle with pride will live life based on how they feel and expect everyone else to accommodate them and adapt to their moods.

Two key characteristics of pride are independence and rebellion. It should not be too difficult for us to understand why this is so. The truth is we all want our own way about things, and we usually will do almost anything to have it our way. The sinful nature leads us to desire independence, and we rebel at the thought of being under anyone’s control or authority.

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4 (NIV)

In our hearts we say as Pharaoh did, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” (Exodus 5:2)

The truth is, we cannot remain full of pride because God hates pride!

All who fear the LORD will hate evil. That is why I hate pride, arrogance, corruption, and perverted speech. Proverbs 8:13 (NLT)

The heart of pride brings devastating consequences that God ordains: a hardened heart and consequences of this sin. Scripture shows us the results of pride through the examples of two kings: King Nebuchadnezzar and King Herod. They both became prideful and consequently were humbled by God.

In your life, pride will cause your heart to harden toward God. Consequently, God will not allow you to prosper. He will bring you dishonor, which is the last thing a prideful person wants (Proverbs 11:2).

Pride brings opposition from God. He will not share His glory with anyone or anything. The prideful person is self-deceived. Often prideful people are mistakenly diagnosed with “low self-esteem” because their actions and attitudes appear to be self-depreciating. Low self-esteem is defined as “a person’s belief regarding the degree to which he is worthy of praise.”

The prideful person already thinks very highly of himself or herself! People infected by pride typically think so much of themselves that they believe the world should revolve around them. The only thing important to prideful people is getting their needs filled. It may be an emotional need, a desire for attention, or a resistance to conform to social norms in order to be seen as an individual. Prideful people struggle with bitterness, revenge, conceit, self-pity, a competitive nature, gossip, slander, and vanity. They display a desire to be noticed, which is disguised as shyness. They typically have a lust for attention, approval, and praise. Those who attempt to build them up psychologically only assist them in further self-indulgence.

Pride is an evil of the heart that must be done away with for the Believer to grow and change.

Know Him

In Ephesians 1, Paul prays for believers in this manner:
“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Ephesians 1:16-19 (NIV)

Paul’s single goal was Christ—to know Him, to glorify Him, and to teach others to do the same. John exhorted us to love God more than the world or its pleasures.

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Romans 13:13-14 (NIV)

Renewing your mind with Scripture will enable you to put off the sinful desires of the flesh. These not only include immoral desires but also selfish desires . . . the selfish desires that keep you focusing only on yourself and how you feel today.

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV)

Loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind is impossible apart from the working of the Holy Spirit. God, who is far above all rule and power, must always take first place. He reigns in glory, independent of you and me. We do not “make” God number one, and we do not “make” Jesus Christ “Lord.” God is already God and Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). What must change is our understanding of who we are! As we learn our humble position before an Almighty God, our perspective changes on how we are to live life. As we begin to comprehend that we are here to serve Him (not the other way around), Matthew 22:39 becomes reality to us: “Love your neighbor as yourself."

We have no problem loving ourselves. In fact, we are very good at it. Some think they could not possibly love themselves because they are depressed, neglecting their personal hygiene, staying in bed, or doing harm to themselves (e.g., getting drunk, cutting self), but what do those actions indicate? Who are we worrying about and dwelling on most when we’re depressed: ourselves! Even fuming inside about someone who isn’t treating us right is a sign that we love ourselves more than we love our neighbor. This is why Jesus did not tell us to love ourselves more; he told us to love others as much as we already love ourselves!

Putting Matthew 22:39 into action means serving others. God has graciously given us direction in His Word to know how to serve our fellow man. Read the Word, soak it in, revel in the Word! It is your pipeline to the thoughts of God.

Depressed? Renew Your Mind!

"Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

Mind renewal is especially important when dealing with depression. When your thoughts, beliefs, and desires are set on glorifying God, you will begin to do the right things, such as serving others, and you will experience good results, such as relief from depressive feelings.

Consider what God says about your reason for living. Why did He create you? Search the Scriptures and make a list of the reasons God says He made you. To get you started, look up 1 Corinthians 6:20.

Remind yourself daily of your spiritual identity. The book of Ephesians gives you some great clues about who you are in Christ. Examine the book in depth, especially the first three chapters. Take notes, use various translations, and look up words you don’t know or understand in a concordance, such as Vine’s or Strong’s.

Do you know who you are in Christ? Check a concordance for words like “justified,” “sanctified,” “called,” “elect,” “blameless,” “holy.” Memorize the Bible verses that reveal how these words apply to you.

Look for God at work in your circumstances. Examine the life of biblical characters such as David, Samuel, Ruth, Naomi, King Saul, Samson, Elijah,characters such as David, Samuel, Ruth, Naomi, King Saul, Samson, Elijah, and Paul. These people were used by God and still testify to us today; how did they handle their crises and troubles?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. Hebrews 12:1-2a (NLT)

Do a study on what the Bible has to say about grumbling and complaining. Use both the Old and New Testaments.

What is your focus today? Do you just want to be “feeling better”? Instead, change your focus to “seeing Christ.” The goal of true change is to see only Jesus Christ. He is your answer. He is your comfort. He is your help in time of need. He is your light, your salvation, your all in all. He is your hope.

Paul said in Philippians 3:

“I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him.” Philippians 3:7-8 (NLT)

In Philippians 3:10, he said:
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

And in 1 Corinthians 2:2:
“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

This is just a starting place! If you are struggling with sorrow without hope today I urge you to go ahead and do the simple exercises I have outlined for you here. Watch God work! It may not be immediate and remember the goal is not to feel better, but to glorify God!

What's the Cure for Depression?

If you are depressed, chances are you came to believe you needed certain things or people to “make you happy.” Yet even though you may have gotten those things, you find you are still unhappy.
Self-focused motivations spurred on by the desires of the sinful heart have produced the kind of fruit you would expect—depression and discouragement.

What’s the cure for depression? It may surprise you that biblical counseling does not focus on the fruit of depression. It is not profitable to simply pull the bad fruit off the tree, because new bad fruit will soon grow in its place. The depression you are experiencing is the result of the problem, not the problem itself.

The way to deal with depression biblically is to determine the source of the feelings—your beliefs, desires, and thoughts. The Bible says that the source to examine is your heart.

Because the heart is set on pleasing “self,” your thoughts and actions are not naturally going to be like God’s. This presents a dilemma because God commands us to be holy.

“But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy. For he himself has said, ‘You must be holy because I am holy’ ” (1 Peter 1:15-16, NLT).

Practicing holiness brings God glory. Glorifying God is to be the goal of our lives. I am often asked by my counselees, “Why am I here?” The simple and straightforward answer to this question could change your life: You are here to glorify God.

Glorifying God happens when the focus of my life changes from living for my own pleasure and glory to living for His pleasure and glory. It demands that my heart change from a me-centered focus to a God-centered focus.

As you address what is guiding and motivating your heart, you will learn to intentionally keep your mind focused on thoughts that are pleasing and edifying to God. This is the renewing of your mind.
This is how wrong thoughts and beliefs can be corrected by right thinking:

• Take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• Find hope in the Word (Proverbs 13:12; Colossians 1:27;Titus 2:11-13)
• Focus on praising and thanking God for His provisions and promises (Colossians 3:1-4; 2 Peter 1:4).
• Forgive those with whom you are angry (Mark 11:25-26; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
• Identify the idols in your life and turn away from them!
Make it your desire to glorify God (Exodus 20:4; I John 5:21).
• Humble yourself (James 4:6-10).
• Identify your sinful responses to your circumstances and feelings and repent (Joel 2:12, 13; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10, 11

Feeling Depressed?

• Do you believe you have a disease called depression that causes you to feel sad, tired, disinterested in life, guilty, or suicidal?
• Do you believe you have this disease because you inherited it from your father or mother?
• Are you able to control your feelings?
• Have you begun to neglect your responsibilities (e.g., staying home from work, not paying bills, not caring for children)? How often?
• What do you do while avoiding responsibilities? (Do you stay in bed, cry, sleep, or drink alcohol?)
• What are you thinking about when you feel sad, disinterested in life, or suicidal?
• What problems result from avoiding responsibilities?
• Would you like to understand what the Bible says about your thoughts and behavior, and what you can do about it?

No rational person would deny that the feelings of depression are real! I would would even suggest defining all the feelings and behaviors that characterize you at this time. What words would you use to describe how you feel? Are you sad, grief stricken, despondent, mourning, hopeless, despair, angry, lonely, or tired?

I would suggest reading Deuteronomy 31:6; Isaiah 26:3, 41:10; Lamentations 3:21-24; Psalm 43:4, 46:1; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Hebrews 12:2, with a notebook and pencil nearby to take notes about what you read. You may notice that the Bible uses words like “sorrow,” “grieved,” and “downcast” to describe these feelings. We do not find the phrase “depressive disorder” in the Bible, but various Psalms (69, 51, 32, 38, and 45) clearly describe the behavior and mindset of a person who is suffering from depression.

This is called gaining a biblical perspective on the problem. It is important that you begin to think in biblical terms regarding spiritual issues. Once you begin to adopt biblical thinking and practice it in your behavior, you will see changes in your feelings. On the other hand, when someone labels you with “depressive disorder,” you become saddled with a medical diagnosis code, which in the medical realm may mean you have an illness from which you will never recover. You are now a victim of an illness. There is no victory there.
When behavior is labeled as a disease, it means you have a problem that cannot be fixed, which takes away all hope. You are led to believe that you will have “depressive disorder” for the rest of your life, even if you never have another depressive episode.

When you define depression the way the Bible defines it—“sorrow” and “despair”—this describes feelings and sinful behavior for which Christ died! There is a lot of hope there! A behavior can be stopped and avoided because it is a choice. The choice begins with the desires of the heart.

Christ didn’t die for “depressive disorder”—he died to give you victory over the flesh that drives you to be sinful in your thoughts and desires. He didn’t die for diseases; he died for sins.

I pray this brings you tremendous hope!

The Heart and Depression

Because the heart can be referred to as the control center of your being, what you think, believe, and desire in your heart is what guides and determines your actions. We do not naturally think about our heart being wicked. Perhaps your friends and family refer to you as having a good heart or a big heart. Maybe you have never before heard someone say that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Take a look at the sin habits found in Matthew 15:18-19. If you are honest with yourself, you may see that you have some of the sin habits found in those verses. Those sins are the results of sinful thoughts, beliefs, and desires. Every action begins as a thought. The thought is fueled by a desire or belief. The desire or belief originates in the heart.

What you have been thinking about, believing, and desiring in your heart is what has caused you to feel depressed or to have sorrow without hope. God is using this time of depression in your life to reveal the contents of your heart.

To deal biblically with depression, you must learn what God says about your problem. To start, God says that what you are thinking, believing, and desiring in you heart needs to be dominated by Him through His Word.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

As the Word of God enters your mind and heart, you will begin to have a better idea of God’s thoughts, standards, and goals for you. This is called being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23). A wise counselor will help you to understand what God has to say about your thoughts, desires, and affections of the heart, and to help you conclude that all you do or say is a result of what you think.

Before you can change what you habitually do, you must change how you habitually think. Before you can change what you do, you have to come to believe or think differently in your mind.
What you think or believe about depression will determine how you respond to it. If you believe depression is largely biological, you may think the most you can do is get long-term therapy or take a pill to feel better.

If the depression is not a biological issue, a true alternative is to allow the Lord to affect your belief system. You must come to believe in your thinking that your behavior is ungodly, and that living a depressed way of life is wrong and unbiblical. This will require a shift in your core beliefs! Your desire to change must be motivated by a deeper level than “This will get me into trouble” or “What will people think?” Stopping the depressive behavior because of sinful consequences is not repentance.

An attitude of repentance takes place when your belief system is affected. The biblical reason to stop the behavior is that you have come to believe it grieves God and causes Him sorrow.

Spiritual Causes for Depression

When looking at depression biblically, you must examine the root causes for the way you feel. Whether or not you have a medical diagnosis, there is a critical component that the Bible addresses directly.
From the Bible you can safely determine that essentially you are comprised of two parts—material/organic and immaterial. If you have been reading regularly, you have read that various diseases can cause or contribute to depression. If the problem is not proven to originate in the material (organic) part of your body, it must then originate in the immaterial (non-organic) part of your being.

The root cause of non-organic depression is found in the immaterial part of man in what the Bible refers to as your heart.

The heart is the biblical word used to describe the inner person. The heart is the immaterial (non-flesh) part of you that includes your thoughts, beliefs, desires, mind, feelings, intentions, and emotions.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do” (Proverbs 4:23, NLT).

What you think, believe and desire in your immaterial part (mind, heart, soul, feelings) is what your material part (body) follows. You think a thought and your body responds accordingly. You may be so accustomed to your body automatically responding to these commands that you may not even think about them as you are doing them! Many kinds of thoughts and desires may initiate an automatic response. When you feel angry, for example, you may scream and rant or you might quietly seethe. When you desire escape from problems, you may sleep, drink, or use drugs. When you are in trouble, you may lie to avoid exposure and discipline. These responses may have become automatic for you.

Probably without your direct knowledge, you have trained yourself to react in a certain way when confronted by a circumstance or situation. Whether you tend to scream, drink, lie, or do some other behavior, through repetition it becomes a habit or pattern. These sinful patterns are found in the heart. The Bible has much to say about the heart as the vital spiritual organ in the body.

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 (NIV)

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:18-19 (NIV)

Do you struggle with evil thoughts, bitterness, immorality, lying, or gossip? What does the Bible say about the condition of your heart? God’s view of your heart is found in Jeremiah 17:9:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV).

The deceitful heart is bent on satisfying “me,” having my own way, and living life for my own pleasure, with “me” at the center of my universe.

Physical Depression?

Physical depression is the kind of depression that relates to or affects a body organ—it affects the physical body. Depression can result from a reaction to prescription medications, poor eating and sleeping habits, chronic fatigue, a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise, or too much caffeine.

More than 70 scientifically proven illnesses or diseases (organic causes) can contribute to or cause depression, emotional disturbances, or bizarre behavior. A careful medical exam is always in order whenever a physical cause (including chemical dependency) is suspected. If a physical problem is discovered, the elimination or medical management of the illness should be the first goal.

In the Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference, Dr. Robert Smith makes an important statement: “In order for something to be considered a true illness, science says that there must be objective, measurable, reproducible testing. To qualify as an illness there must be tissue damage … demonstrated by abnormal function It is a provable, knowable fact based on objective testing.”

In the majority of depression cases, there is no objective evidence to prove that the body is functioning abnormally. No tests exist that will produce definable and measurable data; therefore, no basis exists to conclude an organic illness is present. Here’s the question of the hour: If we cannot prove a medical/biological issue exists in depression, is it wise to treat a person medicinally?

Therein is the major area of controversy in helping people with feelings of depression. Do we treat the feelings with medication and artificially cause the person to feel better, or do we address the root cause of depression itself? Instead of trying to decide whether using antidepressant medication is “right or wrong,” questions might be asked: Which is the better option: dealing with the root cause or covering up the depressive feelings with medication? Which will offer the you hope and real solutions to your feelings of depression?

I believe that if there is no basis to prove a medical cause, a wise counselor will go forward with the understanding that the a person does not have an organic brain disorder, but rather, a spiritual issue.

If you are depressed, your problem may not necessarily be the difficult situation in which you find yourself. Rather, your problems may be caused by a wrong or unbiblical response to that situation. God has provided the means to live in the midst of the trial, but you must avail yourself of His grace.

It is important to understand that rarely does a person go from “problem” to “immobilized.” Depression is a process or a result of continued wrong responses to various situations and repeated wrong thinking.

The (non-organic) depression process can be halted at any point in the progression by correcting unbiblical thinking and replacing it with biblical thinking that honors and glorifies God and restores hope to the one who suffers.

Depression that is non organic can be resolved by examining key spiritual reasons why people experience sorrow without hope. We will look at that next time.

Am I Depressed?

In the majority of depression cases, there is no objective evidence to prove that the body is functioning abnormally. No tests exist that will produce definable and measurable data; therefore, no basis exists to conclude an organic illness is present. Here’s the question of the hour: If we cannot prove a medical/biological issue exists in depression, is it wise to treat a person medicinally?

Therein is the major area of controversy in helping people with feelings of depression. Do we treat the feelings with medication and artificially cause the person to feel better, or do we address the root cause of depression itself? Instead of trying to decide whether using antidepressant medication is “right or wrong,” questions might be asked: Which is the better option: dealing with the root cause or covering up the depressive feelings with medication? Which will offer the counselee hope and real solutions to their feelings of depression?

I believe that if there is no basis to prove a medical cause, a wise counselor will go forward with the understanding that the counselee does not have an organic brain disorder, but rather, a spiritual issue.

If you are depressed, your problem may not necessarily be the difficult situation in which you find yourself. Rather, your problems may be caused by a wrong or unbiblical response to that situation. God has provided the means to live in the midst of the trial, but you must avail yourself of His grace.

It is important to understand that rarely does a person go from “problem” to “immobilized.” Depression is a process or a result of continued wrong responses to various situations and repeated wrong thinking.

The (non-organic) depression process can be halted at any point in the progression by correcting unbiblical thinking and replacing it with biblical thinking that honors and glorifies God and restores hope to the one who suffers.

Depression that is non organic can be resolved by examining key spiritual reasons why people experience sorrow without hope. When looking at depression biblically, we must examine the root causes for the way we feel. Whether or not we have a medical diagnosis, there is a critical component that the Bible addresses directly.

From the Bible we can safely determine that essentially we are comprised of two parts—material/organic and immaterial. While there are certainly various diseases can cause or contribute to depression (thyroid condition, uncontrolled diabetes, heart attack to name just a few) if the problem is not proven to originate in the material (organic) part of the person, it must
then originate in the immaterial (non-organic) part of the person. The root cause of non-organic depression is found in the immaterial part of man in what the Bible refers to as your heart.

Living By Feelings?

Is your vocabulary full of the phrase “I feel?” Do you make decisions based on your feelings? How often have you done (or not done) something based on how you feel? In the counseling room I am often astonished by the number of people who have abandoned thought and reason for feeling-oriented living.

Much like the humanistic psychologist Car l Rogers envisioned, we have become a society where it is acceptable and even encouraged to live life by how we feel. As a result, hearing a person express a thought or belief is rare. Listen to how others talk, and you wil l begin to notice how much people “feel” everything, even things that are not by definition feelings (e.g., I feel like I should get a raise).

To express a thought or belief is to open yourself up for criticism or disagreement. Everyone is now “entitled” to express and live by their feelings, and it is rare to hear someone criticize another for doing so.

Is it biblical to live life by how you feel?

Because Jesus Christ is our example, we must go to the Scriptures and determine if He lived His life by feelings. A careful student will determine that Christ never commanded or suggested that we should live life by our feelings. In fact, the Bible warns us not to live by our emotions. 1 & 2 Peter are heavily concentrated with verses that warn against and give the result of living a feeling-oriented life. I have listed a few of them here for you.

As children who are under obedience, don’t shape your lives by the desires that you used to follow in your ignorance. 1 Peter 1:14 (CCNT)

Dear friends, as resident aliens and refugees, I urge you to keep at a safe distance from the fleshly desires that are poised against your soul like an expeditionary force. 1 Peter 2:11 (CCNT)

As a result, it is now possible to live the remainder of your time in the flesh no longer following human desires, but following God’s will. 1 Peter 4:2 (CCNT)

Since His divine power has given us everything for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one Who called us by His own glory and might (through which He has given to us valuable, indeed, the greatest promises of all, in order that through these you might have become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of desire). 2 Peter 1:4 (CCNT)

Especially those who are following the polluted desire of the flesh and despise ruling authority. 2 Peter 2:10 (CCNT)

“Through uttering impressive-sounding clap-trap, by an appeal to fleshly desires and to impure practices, they bait a trap for persons who have barely escaped from those who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18, CCNT).

If you’re discouraged, you may feel sad, weepy, troubled, or overwhelmed but still be functional. You may be fighting through the feelings and do what is necessary in spite of how you feel. You may depend on other people or circumstances for your security or happiness. You may have become immobilized by your feelings or circumstances. Possibly your feelings have paralyzed you to the point that you are unable to function. Maybe you are neglecting your responsibilities. While trying to escape from your problems, you respond to those who attempt to help you by blaming them for your problems. You justify your behavior, demanding that others change.

Many people who struggle with depression follow this cycle: I don’t like what I am going through. This causes me to have and focus on bad feelings which lead to decreased function which leads to more problems, creating a vicious cycle of depression.

Is this how God would have you to live?