I struggled with depression for much of my life. I would have argued with you if you tried to tell me that. Not many people knew me well enough to see it. I think my father did, but I wouldn’t even hear that from him. I was never clinically diagnosed or prescribed anything, but I think I would have been if I had sought help.

I was never suicidal, though there were times I wanted to die. My faith, weak as it was at times, sustained me. I’m not qualified to give advice on when someone should seek professional help, though I certainly urge you to reach out if you are considering taking your own life. All life is precious, and that is never a good answer.

Sadness is a God-given emotion. Grief is natural and healthy if one is able to move through it. Bad things do happen to us and to those we love. Personal tragedy will come for all of us at some point in our lives.

But prolonged depression is something else. I do believe that depression is a spiritual condition that may have physical consequences. In some cases, it may be appropriate to use medication to restore enough balance to enable clear thinking, but the cure is in our hearts and minds. It is effected by the one who made them.

I can’t say it never tries to make a comeback, but I know now how to beat it. I realize now that I am really better off dead.  I am better off dead to the sin that draws me away from the life that is found in my Lord Jesus and into a death from which there is no salvation.  That’s the symbolism of Christian baptism; the death of the old and the birth of the new.  I am better off dead to my own selfish desires, which will only lead me deeper into depression.  They can only do so because I am not the source of life.  Jesus is the source of life.  His Holy Spirit lives within me, but if I do not listen to Him, I will not have the benefit of the only true Counselor. 

I believe the best thing we can do to fight depression is to get the focus off of ourselves.  Some say we should consider those who are worse off, but I don’t think that helps much.  We’ve got to get in there and actually help.  That’s when things start to change because that’s when we’re doing what God made us to do.  We’re made in his image.  We’re not going to be healthy unless we’re doing what we’re made for.  So, are you depressed?  You really are better off dead! (See Romans 6, Colossians 3:1-17.)  Leave off worrying about all the problems you have, serious though they may be.  Focus instead on helping someone else solve theirs.  I’ll bet you that if your problems don’t get better, your perspective on them will.