I’ve talked about depression and anxiety a lot maybe more than any other topic over the course of my ministry and the reason is because it’s a huge problem for people; Christians and Non-Christians. Over the years and throughout my life, I have struggled with both depression and anxiety. They have been the result of pervasive feelings that I’ve ignored and thoughts that I’ve dwelled on that took me out of the present to either the past or the future.
We have been instructed through the Scriptures to “set our mind,” (Colossians 3.2) as the way to avoid the pitfalls of dwelling on the past or future. When we don’t, we will begin to fall into despair or begin to worry. Worry is a form of "setting the mind," but on something that has not happened. When we worry, we continually dwell on that which is negative and counter-productive. We allow our imagination to go crazy, thinking of all the bad things that might happen. Anxious thoughts enter our minds raising a heightened sense of fear. What this reveals is that we are not living in the present keeping our minds focused on the Lord and what is happening presently. We must choose what to we are going to dwell on and trust the future and what might be to God.
While feelings and erroneous thoughts and beliefs are at the root of all depression and anxiety, the solution is not trying to manage the feelings through artificial means or our own fleshly strategies. These will only serve as a temporary fix and you’ll continue to struggle until you take the ultimate step of ending your life. I know, because I’ve been there, albeit unsuccessful and when I was very young before Jesus entered my life. The solution is setting your mind and staying in the present moment.
When you walk through a valley, how do you think the evil one will tempt you? Since his goal is to keep you from experiencing life and freedom in Christ, which is only experienced in the present, he will lure you out of the present and into the past or the future. The peace and presence of God is not there, it is here and now. You must actively choose to focus on and let your mind dwell on God’s truth and take each day as it comes to you.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)