pital for a week. Is it not a remarkable fact that our reactions to stress determine whether stress is going to cure us or make us sick? Here is an important key to longer and happier living. We hold the key and can decide whether stress is go ing to work for us or against us. Our attitude decides whether stress makes us ‘better or bitter’.” L o s s o f P r o d u c t i v i t y It is only natural that if depression leads to apathy, then it also leads to loss of productivity. Many a genius or gifted-prone individual never realizes his potential because of his depression- induced apathy. The loss is not in this life, but also in the life to come. (See I Cor. 3:10-15.) The Lord Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:14-30 pointed out this very thing. He pictured His re turn as a time o f accounting for his servants, and he seriously rebuked one for being “a wicked and slothful servant.” He had not murdered anyone nor committed adultery; he had merely done noth ing with the talent our Lord gave him. Some Chris tians are going to lose rewards in this life and the life to come merely because they are doing noth ing with the talents the Lord has given them. Apathy produces apathy just as depression pro duces depression. Christians tend to become de pressed and apathetic if their lives do not count for Christ. Repeatedly taking in the Word of God without expressing it to other souls has a tendency to make them depressively apathetic. Recently a young Christian that has had a problem with de pression most of his life said, “Last Friday I felt wonderful! I had a great opportunity to witness my faith to a fellow employee.” There is tremen dous therapy in witnessing our faith to other souls. I r r i t a b i l i t y A person suffering from depression is prone to be irritable. It irritates him that others are in a good, energetic mood when he is in a pensive, gloomy mood. He is also irritated by petty things that would otherwise completely escape his at tention. W i t h d r a w a l Severe cases of depression lead to withdrawal. The individual tends to escape from the unpleasant realities of life, daydreaming about his pleasant childhood (which may at this point be a figment of his imagination) or building air castles about the future. This is very natural since contempla tion of the present is depressing. Daydreaming, however, is a serious deterrent to an effective thinking process and not at all beneficial to mental health. It also makes a person incommunicative and isolated. BE
control, relieve tension caused by traumatic ex periences and cure many other maladies. A golfer came in “to be hypnotized and have my trick elbow cured.” It seems he had the “traumatic experience” of losing a championship golf match by seriously over-putting the ninth cup. When he came to the 18th hole, he thought about it again, and his elbow seemed to hurt. Again he was over-putting the cup. Ever since then his elbow ached whenever he picked up his putter, particularly when he came to the ninth or eighteenth green. Through hypnotic suggestion this “ terrible pain” was eliminated. In this same way aches and pains can enslave a de pressed person any time he thinks of some un pleasant task or experience. Millions of dollars and untold human suffering are the price being paid for this hypochondria-type sickness induced by depression. Our mental attitude toward things can hardly be overemphasized. I remember counseling with a housewife who “ hated housework.” She loved her home, children and husband but by her own tes timony “ hated to do dishes, and it irks me because my husband won’t buy me a dishwasher.” She had made a martyr out of herself every time she stood at the kitchen sink. What was the problem? It was her attitude that made it an unpleasant, boring, exhausting task that almost destroyed the many other blessings which surrounded her but which she was overlooking. She was forgetting the lovely home, furniture, faithful husband, and healthy children. Instead, she was focusing upon a pet peeve through the magnifying glass o f self-interest. This is always a formula for depression. Actually, a degree of stress created by tackling a difficult task, or one we think difficult, is good for a person, presupposing a positive mental atti tude toward it. Dr. McMillen has said, “ I can re call many times when I had to make house calls on patients when I wasn’t feeling well myself. I found out that the stress of making the trip often cured me of my minor aches and pains. However, if I had made the trip in the spirit of antagonism, my faulty reaction might have put me in the hos-
Rev. T im LaHaye is pastor o f Scott Memorial Baptist Church, San Diego, Calif. He is author o f the book, SPIRIT- CONTROLLED TEMPERA M ENT , from \which this article is taken.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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