HAPPINESS AND HEALTH: A MEANINGFUL LIFE

 “We are God’s handiwork, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared in order that we might journey through life doing them” (Eph 2:10).

I heard an academic lecture yesterday under the topic of happiness and health on the role religion plays in mental health.¹  To my dismay, none of the reasons given for why “being religious” supports mental health were the first two that came to my mind.

The first key factor is having a meaningful/purposeful life.  Studies show that this factor makes a major contribution to mental health.²  Having a sense of purpose creates an outward, teleological movement for life.  This happens when one seeks God.  Seeking and submitting to God involves living in the image of God, working for order in the midst of chaos, serving the created world and its inhabitants, living rightly before God (righteously).²  To the contrary, THE temptation of wanting to “be like God/gods” (Gen 3:5) achieves the opposite result.  The nature of humans to yield to the sin of self-rule is insulating and stultifying.  It feeds the inward focus of depression.  Setting aside that non-religious people may claim to have a foundation for a meaningful life – at the least the presenter should have noted that many religious beliefs and philosophies offer a purpose for life, even it is just living for ancestral honor, caring for one’s community, or finding a wise Dao (path) for living.

The second factor that came to mind, might be one the presenter did not know: having the Presence of God in one’s life through the Holy Spirit.  The Presence of God does not remove the chaos of life.  Christian theology is about participation: we are in Christ and Christ is in us.  Jesus holds our hands as we go through life’s chaos.  God’s presence helps with mental health.  I can testify to that.

Lord, we all were created with a purpose, to live in relationship with You.  May those who have missed life’s purpose find you.  May those who have our life and breath in You serve others in such a way that they are drawn to Jesus.  Help me to walk today in Your purposes.  Amen.
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1) Mental health involves many factors, including medical ones that I am not addressing here but which are real and call for medication and counseling.
2) For example, see: https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/purpose-in-life-less-stress-better-mental-health.
3) I am drawing on material from earlier posts on “Misreadings of Genesis 1-3” and the nature of sin and temptation.

CHRISTIAN RIGHTS?

In my current culture, many people calling themselves “Evangelical Christians” are grasping for power and exaltation in the form of political control through secular, civil authorities.  They demand that the civil authorities protect “their rights.”  On the civil side, it sometimes appears they want to elevate themselves over the constitutional rights of those with different beliefs.  On the biblical side, there is no manifesto of Christian “rights.”  (Such behavior, of course, is the opposite of the nature of the Kingdom of God.)

Jesus’ response to civil authorities was, as Philip explains to the Ethiopian, to be “led like a sheep to the slaughter…in humiliation he was deprived of justice” (Act 8:31-34, quoting Isa 53:7-8).  Jesus refused to rely on his own access to divine power to protect his rights: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mat 26:53 NIV).

This same Jesus proclaims that “blessed” (makarios¹) people are “the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek (praus²)… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart… the peacemakers… and the persecuted” (Matt 5:1-12).  Such people are the opposite of the worldly powerful and exalted.

Jesus describes the Beatitude people further as “salt” and “light” (Matt 5:13-16).  Both salt and light work their wonders of preserving and illuminating without force, without taking control, but by being who they are called to be.  Salt and light serve for the good of others.  When Jesus’ people act as salt and light, they produce “good deeds” that result in people praising God (vs 16).

Lord Jesus, I give any “rights” that I think I might have to you.  Help motivate me to serve people by being salt and light to them.  Amen.
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1.  I have a hypothesis that I sometime want to explore about makarios.  The Greek is a translation of the Hebrew ʾshry, both of which are translated as either “blessed” or “happy.”  But the Hebrew term seems to come from the word ʾshr which can have the sense of “going straight,” is used frequently in wisdom sayings, and where the verb form is found in Pro 9:6 is about going in the way of understanding.  My hypothesis is that both the Hebrew and Greek have the sense of “going in the right (godly) way.”
2.  Important to this point is the term for “meek” (praus) in Matt 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  Too many Christian Internet sites want to claim, without citing support, that that “meek” is a quality of a strong, mighty, warhorse that is under control.  (See the discussion debunking this notion by Marg Mowczko, “The Greek Word 'Praus' and Meek Warhorses” at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1176/pg1176-images.html)  The sense if the term is “gentle/mild.”  Moreover, Jesus appears to be quoting Psalm 37:11, “But the meek (Hebrew ʽnw) will inherit the land” (NIV).  The Hebrew equivalent for Greek praus-related words are words that come from the Hebrew root ‘nh, the action of bowing down.  The noun form in Ps 37:11 carries the notion of being humble.  A related noun ‘ny in Zech 9:9 describes the Messiah: "... See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly (‘ny) and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (NIV).  If, as it seems likely, Greek praus is being used for Hebrew ‘nw by Jewish NT authors, then the idea of meekness describes someone who is humble/lowly before God and others.  As with the rest of the Beatitude qualities, it is contrary to exalting oneself over others.

BEING WHO I WAS CREATED TO BE: LIGHT

I know that I have written on this topic before.  I am repeating myself because I am the one who needs frequent reminders.  Being God's Light is a theme that has come in up in recent meditations by Richard Rohr.¹  Today’s statement that penetrated to my heart was,

And if we think of our homes as the place where our light shines, we are more likely to be patient with the children or with those whose minds have reverted to childhood; we are more likely to find that light within ourselves as we go through the day.²

My first thought turned to friends who are dealing with spouses with dementia.  I admire their model of faithfulness to Jesus that is revealed in their faithfulness to their spouses.  Their witness challenges me – I have a healthy wife – to be salt and light in all my contexts: wife and extended family down to my wonderful grand-children, friends, colleagues, and simply those whom I encounter in daily activities.  (I don’t know which context is harder for me: the company of closest family or passing strangers?)

The Christmas season is about how Light came into the world and how that Light remains and is meant to shine in and through those who call on Jesus (John 1:1-9).  When someone is trapped in darkness, they will – unless considerably hardened of heart – be drawn to light.  Light penetrates the chaos of darkness.  Light encourages people to move forward.  Light shows people where to step.  Light promises a better life.  God’s Light is Life.

The question, then, that I face daily is: Does my life offer this Light to others?

Lord, keep me close to you so that your Light might shine in and through me.  I do not want to contribute to the darkness in this world.  I want to be part of the Light.  Amen.
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1.  Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations (on line).
2.  https://cac.org/daily-meditations/being-a-light-for-others/