Food and mood.

Apr 2, 2010 • By David Murray • 1 Comment

Christians have rightly stressed that the state of the soul (the heart) affects the mind and the emotions, which then influences behavior. One important motivation behind this stress is to assert human responsibility and avoid always blaming external factors for our problems.

However, we must be careful not to avoid one extreme (it’s all physical and external) by running to another extreme (it’s all spiritual and internal).

In a recent interview, the best-selling author A. J. Jacobs explained in popular language, how much our physical state impacts our emotions.

Have you ever been surprised that something you expected would make you very happy, didn’t – or vice versa?
I’m continually surprised at how much my physical state affects my emotions. I used to think the ghost and the machine were separate. But they’re so intertwined. Lack of sleep can really darken your worldview. Even being cold puts me in a worse mood. Did you read that study about how people are more positive when they’re holding a warm cup of coffee? We can’t escape our bodies.

I wish more pastors would recognize this (body/soul) dynamic, both for themselves and for those they counsel. Take, for example, the recent book Feelings and Faith by Brian Borgman. Although the book starts and finishes with a defense of an ancient error - that God the Father suffers pain and sorrow - the book is one of the best Christian treatments of emotion that I have read. There are many valuable insights into the bible and human nature - especially the connections between the mind and the emotions. It is Christ-centered and practical. I especially welcomed Borgman’s balanced and careful discussion of depression.

In the introduction, however, Borgman sets up a false antithesis:

Historically there are two views on the emotions: one sees the emotions as unrelated to the mind or thinking. The other sees the emotions directly related to the mind or thinking (page 25).

Borgman says the first view is the evolutionary perspective; it teaches that we are subject to our emotions, and so absolves us of responsibility; and as such, it is “biblically unacceptable.”

He then contrasts this with the biblical view (as he sees it):

The emotions are not simply impulses; they are the indicators of what we value and what we believe….The emotions reflect and express the inner man, the heart, the soul, the mind (page 26).

Borgman’s concludes with a theological definition of emotion:

The emotions are an inherent part of what it means to be a person; they express the values and evaluations of a person and influence motives and conduct (page 26).

These last two quotations are true, but they are not the whole truth.

Emotions can also be affected by exhaustion, diabetic hypos, exercise, hormonal changes, gland disorders, brain injuries, high blood pressure, and even sunshine. There is also a large amount of research showing the impact of food on our mood (as if we did not know that by experience!). You might want to start reading here or here. When counseling depressed people, we should probably ask them about their diet, and perhaps suggest that they consult a nutritionist, as part of the counseling process.

Of course we are still responsible for how we react to physical tiredness, diabetic hypos, hormonal changes, adrenal gland malfunctions, brain injuries, etc. And of course the physical may only be part of a larger problem. But let’s not make the mistake of ignoring, minimizing, or denying the impact of the body on the emotions, or the physical on the spiritual.

David Powlison Responds

Apr 1, 2010 • By David Murray • 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I watched this video interview with Dr David Powlison, How does Biblical Counseling view Psychiatric Drugs? I had some pastoral concerns about this video, and expressed them in this blog post, Who sinned? This man or his parents.

Last weekend I was privileged to receive a response from Dr Powlison. I asked him if he would mind me posting his response on my blog without further comment by me. Dr Powlison gave his OK, and said he had no problem with me responding. However, to let Dr Powlison’s words have their full weight and significance, I think it’s best to let them stand alone.

David M, I so appreciate your thoughtful response to my brief podcast. In fact I fully agree with your pastoral instincts. Depression per se is suffering, not sin, something many ministries miss. Symptomatic reliefs of many sorts are not to be despised, lightening burdens is a good. My mention of what each of us brings to suffering (“issues”), did not imply that sin is the underlying cause of depression, or that depression reduces to sin, or is cured by dealing with sin. To those who would merely medicalize depression, I meant to communicate “Don’t forget the person” by either over-medicalizing or over-situationalizing. On the other hand, I’d say to those who reduce depression to sin, “In your eagerness to deal with sin in light of Christ, don’t forget that people are physically-embodied and socially-embedded, and that both are vectors of sufferings,” some of which can be alleviated in part, some of which are intractable until the last day.

By “meaning and relationship” I intended the opposite of how you took my too-brief words. These things are good gifts we bring to sufferers (both personally and as bearers of Christ). My citing those words was not an allusion to strugglers’ personal failings. It was a reference to the potential for the church to enter in and care helpfully for strugglers. It describes a gift, not a diagnosis. In the context of Christian meaning and love, sufferers find encouragement, hope, and growth in grace, even as we all must endure through darkness.

Blessings, David P

Our Undercover Boss

Mar 31, 2010 • By David Murray • 2 Comments

Why More CEOs Need to Clean Toilets was the title of a recent Fastcompany blog post by Simma Lieberman. She was commenting on the reality show, Undercover Boss, in which executive leaders go “undercover” as new hires in entry-level positions, to better understand how their organization works.

The first episode featured Larry O’Donnell, President of Waste Management, Inc. cleaning porta-potties along with one of his employees. After each show the executives reveal their true identity and talk about what they’ve learned.

Lieberman comments: “To some people this is a revolutionary concept, but I have to ask, ‘Why doesn’t every manager, executive or CEO take time to understand what their employees actually do at work?”’ She goes on to argue that in her consultancy work the most common complaint and question is, “Why doesn’t my manager/ director/ CEO, try to do my job?”, followed by, “if he or she tried to do my work, they would understand what I have to deal with everyday.” Lieberman concludes, “Employees who think you have no idea or empathy for them are not going to be engaged or productive…but when inclusion, communication, and empathy are part of the culture, employees are happy and they are much more likely to make your customers happy.”

God lives with us and like us
Last week I was speaking to an elementary school assembly about Israel’s Tabernacle. I really struggled in preparing my message. But, as I spoke, the simplicity of the Tabernacle’s message really hit me. When the Israelites saw the Tabernacle, they said, “God lives with us, and God lives like us!” By the Tabernacle, God dwelt in the midst of His people. And as His people lived in animal-skin tents, so He also lived in an animal-skin tent. What a graphic and vivid picture, “God lives with us, and God lives like us!”

But, like all Old Testament truth, the Tabernacle pointed forward to something even better. It pointed forward to an even greater revelation of Immanuel, God with us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt (literally “tabernacled” or “tented”) among us…full of grace and truth”(Jn. 1:18). In a new way, God lives with us, and God lives like us. This time not in animal skin, but in human skin! Jesus is the ultimate “Undercover Boss.” He lived with us and like us. He did our work. He understood what we have to deal with every day. In Him we find perfect “inclusion, communication, and empathy.” He saw the disciples’ feet soiled and smeared with the animal and human waste of Jerusalem’s filthy streets, took a towel, and washed them with his own hands. He lives with us and lives like us.

But for me there is something even more amazing than God dwelling in animal skin, or even in human skin. He dwells in my skin, my sinful skin. By His Spirit He lives in me (1 Cor. 16:19-20; Col. 1:27).

Where is my “engagement and productivity?”

Poor Excuses for Sinful Silence

Mar 30, 2010 • By David Murray • 1 Comment

When you see sin in your family or in your church, what should you do?

Mary Gentile is a senior research scholar at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Her book Giving Voice to Values will be published by Yale University Press in September 2010. For four years Dr Gentile has been studying “the moments when people decide whether to speak up about an ethical issue, and what they say when they do.” Her research has been focused on businesses and corporations. However, her findings also have a convicting and challenging message for pastors and elders.

In fact all Christians regularly face this dilemma, in their families and workplaces as well as in their churches. We encounter an ethical problem. We know we should speak up. But we start hearing powerful arguments, from within and without, as to why we should stay silent. In the March issue of the Harvard Business Review Magazine, Dr Gentile identified the four classic arguments for keeping silent.

1. It’s not my job. You don’t have to be a seasoned staff member, an expert, or have formal authority to raise a flag. Doing the best thing for the company is always your job.

2. It’s not a big deal. If you’re telling yourself that, it probably is a big deal. Instead of downplaying the severity of the issue, focus on trying to find a resolution.

3. It’s standard practice. Even if your company has always done it a certain way, if it’s creating a problem now or in the future, challenge the status quo.

4. I want to be loyal. Many times people feel there is a conflict between doing what’s right and being loyal to their coworkers, manager, or company. Though this question of loyalty may at times represent a true ethical dilemma, it is often just a rationalization.

Sound familiar?

Dr Gentile’s motivation is “to help younger managers raise their voices when they should and help senior managers build a strong, honest organizational culture.”

May God also use her research to similarly impact pastors, elders, and the Church of Christ.

And, in the shadow of Calvary, may God also give us the grace to begin with our own personal sins and our own “skillful” rationalizations.

Picture: 2006 © Christina DeRidder. Image from BigStockPhoto.com

The Pastor’s Worst Enemy

Mar 29, 2010 • By David Murray • 7 Comments

The pastor’s worst enemy is pride, and it is a special danger for young pastors (1 Tim. 3:6).

The Particular Causes of Pride

Public gifts. As your gifts are exercised in public (unlike those with more private and unseen gifts and ministries), they are more likely to be recognized, admired, and praised.
Official status. As many of God’s people respect and honor the “office” of pastor (sometimes regardless of who fills it), you may be inclined to think it is you they respect and honor.
Man-centeredness. When people are blessed under your ministry, they will often attribute it to you rather than to God.
Worldly ideas of leadership. You see yourself as “in charge of all these people,” rather than their servant.
Inexperience. The Church is quite unique in how it places untested and inexperienced young men into positions of the highest responsibility without going through the “humbling school of hard knocks.” Having never been led, they sometimes do not know how to lead.
Misunderstanding of call to the ministry. Paul did not see the pastoral ministry as a prize he had earned. For Paul, it was as much a grace, an unearned gift, as salvation (Eph. 3:8).

The Pastoral Consequences of Pride

If you fall into pride there will be serious consequences in your ministry.

You will start depending on your gifts rather than on God.
You will become impatient with your less gifted brethren in the ministry or eldership.
You will become thoughtlessly insensitive to the traditions and customs of the past.
You will resist personal criticism and mature counsel.
You will become discouraged and discontented because “I deserve better than this crowd!”
You will regard yourself as above the small/dirty jobs in the congregation.
You will stop learning because you know more than everyone else anyway.
You may fall into the “condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim.3:6).

The Personal Cure of Pride

Let these two phrases be the double heartbeat of our ministries.

1. I am a sinner

Remember what I was (think on the sins you’ve been delivered from)
Remember what I could be now (if God had not stopped you)
Remember what I still am (research your own heart )
Remember what I could yet be (if God removed His restraining grace)

2. I am a servant

A servant of God (not independent but dependent on God for commission, authority, blessing)
A servant of God’s people (not their lord or sovereign)
A servant of sinners (do not look down on the unsaved but get down on your knees for them)
A servant of servants (don’t compete with other pastors but serve them)
A servant of the Servant (who said, “I am among you as one who serves,” and, “the servant is not greater than his Master.”)