Should I Take Anti-Depressants As a Christian?

To Take Anti-Depressants As a Christian?

To use anti-depressants? Or not to use anti-depressants? That is the question. I think trying to understand the question of whether to take anti-depressants as a Christian starts with asking what the Bible says we can put into our bodies.

Some individuals don’t like medication because “it’s not natural,” yet will consume other processed foods. Medicine is indeed lab-formulated, but the construction of the formulas is through the understanding of our bodies through sciences like biology and chemistry. Through that light, it makes medication “natural” because we are targeting things already in our bodies. When the Lord created us, his design was for us to be perfect, and through sin, we became imperfect. So, if we can use medication like anti-depressants as a supplement to bring our bodies back to the state that He initially intended for them to be, I think that would be to our benefit. 

It must also be understood that we are not using medicine alone. We are not replacing God’s power with man-created solutions. We are using medication as an adjunct to prayer, faith, therapy, and whatever else is in your toolbox. There are many mentions of herbs, oils, and even alcohol used as medicine in the bible, and because we know there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), if medicine was used then, it should also be utilized now in its more advanced and researched forms. 

 

Where does our help come from?

When faced with trials and tribulations, this is the question that is usually at the forefront of a Christian’s discussion:

Have you spent time in prayer about it? 

And it’s not without basis.

Psalm 121:1 says I lift my eyes to the hills; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night.

With the Bible as our guide, we know we need prayer to reach the Lord, who can and will help us. But, does it stop there? Does the search for help cease after prayer and making your requests known to our Lord and Savior? Or is there more?

 

Not Just Prayer alone

A recent sermon I heard brought up the point that we must stop being “lazy Christians” and work hard to see the provisions of the Lord. Beyond working hard, we have to see that God can work through us to find our victory. One of the examples given was the Israelites leaving Egypt. God could have opened the Red Sea before they were standing at the edge. But instead, He had Moses lift his staff for the sea to part. Here, we can clearly see that God wants us to do more than live in prayer and rely on Him. We must also add something else. 

Exodus 14:16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 

Another example where we see that it’s not just prayer alone that brings us to our promised land is in the realm of finances. Yes, I do need to pray to find a job, but I also need to put a resume together, put out applications, go to interviews, and the like. The same can be said for the search for a significant other. Yes, by all means, present your requests through prayer to the Lord, so He opens your eyes to this person and puts you in the places that you need to be to find them. That does not mean you can stay indoors and have the person show up to your front door or, for that matter, have a bad attitude with every new person you meet.

If there can be supplemental material for our run-of-the-mill requests to the Lord, why shouldn’t there be supplemental material for all of our challenges, like our mental health?

 

Scriptures Supporting the Use of Additives for Healing

Ezekiel 47:11-12 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.

Revelations 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

2 Kings 20:7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

1 Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

 

My thoughts

I tend to link things together that aren’t always obvious. But if you would allow me to bring you into my mind for a moment, I could present another reason I think medication can be beneficial for Christians. When the citizens came to the Lord and asked if they needed to pay taxes to Caesar, His response was to look at the coin and ask whose face was on it. When the citizens responded that it was Caesar’s face, the Lord replied for them to give Caesar what is Caesars (Luke 20:22-25).

It doesn’t mean that there was money out there that had the face of the citizens in order to belong to them, but it was the law of the time to pay taxes to the government. I believe it is the same suggestion of the Lord to seek medication for our ailments after we go to him for why would we not give to our ailments what our ailments require? You wouldn’t deny your body tea if your throat were sore, so why deny it Lexapro (or other anti-depressants) when your emotions are clinically low?

My Personal Experience

In my personal experience, using medication to help my mental health has allowed me the strength to take on the day. If I could quantify my energy and drive on a scale, it would be in the negatives. But, through medication, I can be raised to a 5, a level where I can now make decisions and participate in life. It doesn’t absolve my need for the Lord, rather it allows me to work on my relationship with Him which is something I’m not truly capable of doing while “unwell”. At the end of the day, it is everyone’s own decision on how they choose to manage their mental ailments.

I would just like medication to be an option for those who are truly suffering because the Lord does care for us and wants us to be well. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have healed so many people.

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