Depression, NF, and the Christian Life
by Ryan Jacobs
NF fan art (2020). Unknown.
Depression is the misunderstood epidemic in the church at present. While the masses are terrified of the Coronavirus, depression is killing far more people at an unprecedented rate. In 2017, there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides. In 2018, approximately 130 people took their lives every day. These are sobering, mind-boggling statistics. How can the church remain ignorant on an issue that is truly a matter of life and death?
Depression is a reality for countless Christians, yet for many in the church, this reality is a contradiction in terms. If you believe in Jesus Christ, they say, “How could you be depressed? You have eternal life!” They quickly open their Bibles to quote you commands like Philippians 4:4,
“Rejoice in the Lord always.”
Like Job’s friends, they’ll tell you that your depression must be in your life because of unrepentant sin. This leaves those depressed Christians who seek solace and empathy in the church in a ruthless cycle of guilt and embarrassment.
Nathan John Feuerstein (NF) is an American rapper whose popularity has sky-rocketed in the past couple of years. His 2019 album The Search, deemed a “One-Note Depression Symphony” by Rolling Stone, claimed the top album spot in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. What is fascinating about NF’s popularity rise is that the primary themes in his songs aren’t the usual drugs, sex, and money—rather, he devotes many of his songs to his Christianity and his struggle with depression.
Though many listen to him because of his talent as a rapper, I would venture to say that his surge in popularity is from many people that relate to what he is preaching in his songs—particularly those who identify themselves as Christian and yet struggle with depression.
Depression
What exactly is depression? It’s almost impossible to give a one-size-fits-all definition. One of the reasons people are drawn to NF’s music is because of his ability to articulate his depression in ways most can’t for themselves and his testimony in connecting more deeply with God as he battled depression and thoughts of suicide. His chorus from “Paralyzed” put into words what many have felt in their lives:
“I'm paralyzed,
Where are my feelings?
I no longer feel things
I know I should.
I'm paralyzed,
Where is the real me?
I'm lost, and it kills me inside
I'm paralyzed.”
Depression is not so much the presence of sadness as much as the absence of feeling. Sadness is something you can feel; depression is the inability to feel. Although depression is often accompanied by sadness, depression, and sadness are not synonymous terms. A better way to describe depression is how NF puts it, paralyzed. Depression is like trying to enjoy your favorite foods, but they all have lost their flavors. Everyone and everything suddenly becomes bland. Your motivation, your goals, your life’s pursuits, all become irrelevant and disinteresting to you. Depression is living life day after day “without a care in the world,” in the most hopeless sense of the phrase.
Depression is (contrary to common Christian thought) not merely spiritual, but physical. Christian, we uphold the truth that the Bible is the Word of God and is our sole authority for life and doctrine. But this belief does not give us a warrant to utterly neglect the findings of modern science.
As Christians, we readily affirm the spirituality of depression, but what about the chemistry of depression? According to Harvard Medical School, depression is identifiable as a physical condition that can be seen through brain-imaging, tracing it through chemical imbalances, genes, nerves, etc. This is why, in my opinion, it is generally more difficult to be a Christian with depression than a non-Christian because the Christian is often prescribed spiritual remedies for something that is often physical. When someone has the flu, do you simply tell them to read their Bibles, pray, and have more faith? I hope not! Though those flu-infected people should read their Bibles, pray, and have more faith, they should also go get some antibiotics. We need to understand that depression is a spiritual and physical issue.
What can I do?
What does this mean for us as believers? In many of his songs, NF speaks about being misunderstood in his depression. In “Epiphany,” he says:
“I had an epiphany;
What if everyone knew my depression was worse than they thought?
They probably gonna look at me differently.”
One possible reason some Christians don’t talk about their depression isn’t because of non-Christian friends; it’s because of their Christian friends. The church, the supposed source of spiritual comfort, is oftentimes the place of judgment and misunderstanding. There are many in your congregation seeking empathy, yet only receiving apathy.
How do we help those in our church suffering from depression? There are many, but I’ll stick to a few.
Realize that everyone has their unique, specific struggles.
I have a friend whose legitimate spiritual issue is that he can’t stop lusting after new Jordan sneakers! I have never owned Jordans in my life, nor do I even desire to (they’re pretty expensive). It’s an issue I don’t have an issue with. On the other hand, this friend who loves his Jordans has never struggled with depression-like I have. We all have our unique internal wars; just because you can’t relate doesn’t mean it’s not legitimate. Don’t judge them, but try to empathize because you have your struggles too.
Never tell a depressed person to ‘suck it up’ or ‘get over it.’
There are certainly times when Christians need to hear this, but not during depression. The danger is not only invalidating their internal pain but shaming someone who suffers from depression for feeling that way in the first place! Not all depression is due to circumstances or some unrepentant sin.
As JI Packer notes,
“Some in the past have gone so far as to diagnose depression in Christians as always a sign of unbelief or some other major sin, but this is not right.”
Sometimes depression enters our lives for reasons far beyond our ability to understand. Don’t be like Job’s friends, and assume you understand why.
Never lose sight of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How easy it is, like Peter, to lose sight of our Lord as soon as the waves grow stronger. This does not mean that you simply open your Bible and recite verses to them. This doesn’t mean that someone's faith in Christ is small if their depression never goes away. This means that by your words and your actions, you graciously keep reminding them never to lose sight of the risen, sovereign, all-powerful creator of the universe. If He created the universe out of nothing, He has the power to help us stand firm in our depression. Keep pointing back to Him when all hope seems lost; because hope is never lost as long as Christ is alive. In my experience, there is something piercingly comforting about ripping my eyes off of myself and my depression and fixing them more and more on Christ. Love them and empathize with them, yet never lose sight of our Savior.
Church, can we be different than the Christians centuries ago that believed that the earth was flat against the overwhelming scientific evidence that the world was round? Depression is a spiritual and physical issue. There are people in your church that are walking a thin line between life and death. This is not a trivial issue; souls are at stake. Can we become a people that love and empathize like our Lord Jesus Christ, especially with those whom we can’t relate?
Resources
We’ve created a free downloadable PDF to explore the article deeper. It contains discussion questions about the topic in general terms that will give you a jumping-off point for beginning a conversation.
The second page contains a way to see the topic from a biblical perspective.
And finally, to go deeper into the subject, we have chosen a few curated resources to explore from other authors’ and thinkers’ research or perspectives.
Read. Engage. Enjoy!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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