Who Jesus is and Why it Matters

Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

I have a friend who is in charge of a mental health service. I have discovered that we are blessed living in New Jersey because our state ranks number one in mental health facilities. Many other states faced a mental health service shortage even before the pandemic.

It worsened after the pandemic because many psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses in the field left their practice, citing burnout. I was surprised to hear that because I thought they were supposed to be experts in handling burnout. If the experts on burnout could burn out, what about you and me?

According to the 2022 State of Mental Health in America statistic report, one out of five Americans experienced a mental illness, but less than half of them received treatments. According to NIH, that number is based on diagnosable mental illness. That means many other mental disorders are undiagnosable. That makes me wonder how deep is the rabbit hole.

After crunching some data from various sources, it seems as much as 75% of the population worldwide today have some sort of mental health problem, more or less, like a spectrum. I named the most common ones BAD (Burnout, Anxiety, Disturbance). You may have it without knowing it until its adverse effects appear on your medical checkup report. You have heard, “Healthy mind, healthy body.” Then how do you keep a healthy mind, and how does a healthy spirit contribute to a healthy mind?

So, I asked my friend, the mental health professional, if the church could help with people’s mental well-being. Since he is running at capacity, I wonder if we could be helpful. He said, “Absolutely!” Fewer people would end up at his mental health clinic if more people went to church and developed their spiritual health. Body, mind, and spirit intertwined. But it’s against the law for him to recommend his patients attend church.

I wondered why some people are more resilient to BAD (Burnout, Anxiety, Disturbance). Last week, I mentioned Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who survived eleven years in the concentration camp because he developed a solid spiritual anchor to maintain his sanity. I’ve also discovered many like him who preserved their sanity despite profound tragedy.

Jesus describes this kind of life as building your house on the rock so it will not collapse under severe storms. Storms are coming for sure because we live in a fallen world.

It reminds me of the story of The Three Little Pigs. One built his house with straws, the second with sticks, and the third with bricks. When the Big Bad Wolf comes, he will huff, puff, and blow the house down. In the children’s version of the story, the first two pigs are described as lazy, but as a real-life allegory, they just don’t know better.

I have discovered that many people today have lost the wisdom to build their spiritual house with bricks—or on the rock. Two reasons: today’s culture often cast doubts on traditional values, teaching people they can build their life on anything they “feel” right. So, they end up building their life on sinking sands. When the Big Bad Wolf comes, their lives crumble.

The other reason is that many churches have watered down the solid ground, thinking we are one of the ways instead of The Way, fear of persecution, unlike Jesus, who risks his life to deliver the cornerstone.

In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus risked his life to deliver himself as the cornerstone to build our life on. It will prevent your life from collapsing under stress and gives you indescribable joy and peace as you journey through life. Let’s take a look!