Mental Health/Psychology
MENTAL HEALTH/PSYCHOLOGY
(AS A CHALLENGE FACING SOCIETY)
The Kingdom Written Within
Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 2:14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:1-8
What does the psychologist mean when by saying, “To be frank and honest in all relations, but especially in relations with oneself, is the first law of mental hygiene.” Doesn’t that mean that the universe and you and I are built for truth, that the universe won’t back a lie, that all lies sooner or later break themselves upon the facts of things? Since the kingdom stands for absolute truth, and our own mental make-up demands the same thing, then are not the laws of the kingdom written within us?
Again, what does the psychologist mean by, “The right thing is always the healthy thing?” Conversely, one might say that the wrong thing is always the unhealthy thing, meaning thereby that we cannot be healthy, cannot function at our best unless we discover the right and obey it.
Victorious Living
(Week 2, Thursday)
How Can We Arrive at the Goal of Inward Unity?
Matthew 6:22; Ephesians 4:1-6; James 4:8
If there is one thing that both modern psychology and the way of Christ agree on, it is this: Apart from inward unity there can be no personal happiness and no effective living.
Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation” (Matt 12:25 KJV). That simple statement has within it all the depths of wisdom that modern psychology has discovered from the facts of the inner life. Divided personality, inward clash, these are the things that bring desolation to human personality.
Many say to the distracted soul, “Pull yourself together.” This is futile advice when there are mutually exclusive things within us. They won’t be pulled together. . . .
“Exert your will,” counsels another. But suppose the will, which expresses the personality in action, is itself divided? Again futility. . . .
So we toil in rowing, trying to get to the land of inward unity. We are tossed by many a wind and many a wave. And it gets very dark. Then Jesus quietly comes. We more easily let him in this time, for there seems no other alternative. The soul seems instinctively to feel, “The Master has come.” He gathers up the inward distinctions, cleanses away the points of conflict, and unifies life around himself. We have arrived.
Victorious Living
(Week 3, Saturday)