When you’re drowning helplessly and hopelessly, you’ll frantically grasp at anything and everything in desperation to pull yourself out of the water or at least hold yourself above the surface! Such is our typical approach to the problems of life: we start to feel desperate, frantic, and hopeless, and we want them to stop. NOW. And anything that promises relief draws us enticingly. We are creatures hesitant to fully entrust ourselves to an Almighty Creator, but hasty to throw ourselves wholeheartedly at apparent remedies.
Why?
We want a quick fix and immediate relief.
The truth is, we’ve always been more desperate than our current circumstances are revealing to us. And, the remedies we clutch provide temporary relief… but will soon accelerate our plunge. Yet, the help God gives enables us to move through the waters and navigate the seas.
Yes, we look for these quick fixes in the midst of our problems – just make them go away! But we also tend to lob these magic solutions to others who struggle, not only offering the quick fix, but attributing problems to an ongoing failure to adhere to the remedial methods that we nestle ourselves in.
What are these quick fixes we’re reaching for?
Consider first of all some of the arenas in which we seek the quick fix:
- Weight. I want to shed pounds, and I want them to disappear FAST!
- Grades. I want my scores to climb, and I want it to happen effortlessly!
- Addiction. I want to stop, but I don’t want to fight the cravings.
- Sin. Why doesn’t God just pulverize all these terrible impulses?
- Finances. Maybe I will win the lottery?
- Relationships. Can we just pretend that never happened?
- Emotions. I can’t go on unless these feelings depart.
As we study the struggle with anxiety, depression, and other emotions, I want to emphasize the subtitle, walking through anxiety and depression. There is no quick fix. The fast relief will be temporary and burdensome. We must be prepared to walk through seasons and cycles of emotions, and we must be willing to do the hard work that effects lasting change in our lives… as with any of the above, and more!
One quick fix that some look to is medication.
There are times that medicine may be necessary and helpful; however, I believe there are frequent situations in which that is not the case. I think self-evaluation is a crucial first step: Am I hoping the medicine will accomplish what I should be doing?
For example, when it comes to weight management, two vital components are regular exercise and healthy eating. However, some people take in calories freely and avoid exercise like the plague. Instead, they might look to diet pills to accomplish responsibilities that they have neglected.
As another example, when it comes to financial management, two vital principles are to save more and spend less. However, some people live beyond their means in a superfluous lifestyle, and hope to find a breakthrough in the lottery, casino, or perhaps a dream promotion.
Some have looked with contempt on Christians who resort to medicine amidst anxiety or depression. That is not my intent, but I do offer a gentle warning not to neglect your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual responsibilities. Take care of yourself, and do the necessary work. If you are turning to medicine, just be extra cautious that you are not making it a substitute!
However, it is very possible to look to spiritual quick fixes as well!
It could be advice given, or it could be a personal realization: Just trust God! I need to read my Bible more. Don’t you remember His promises? I am going to do better at praying… And we may do it for a while, but… it. doesn’t. WORK!
In contrast to the quick-fix mentality, the Bible would have us to think and function in patterns. Paul puts it this way in Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Two types of patterns are evident: the pattern of the world, which we are unknowingly conformed to when we fail to take efforted responsibility in the opposite direction, which is a transformed pattern, which happens in changing our thinking patterns and offering ourselves to God with new living patterns.
Ephesians 4:17-32 is helpful in walking us through a continued fight for a new pattern – not according to the pattern of the lost, which we need to break free from in our thoughts, desires, and actions, but according to the pattern of the new man, which Ephesians 4:11-16 showed us is to be growing into the pattern of Jesus.
How soon can relief come?
- When we trust Jesus as Savior, God’s grace is readily available, putting us in a secure position as His children. It’s difficult in the dark seasons, but it is a truth that powerfully uplifts and can provide a sense of relief.
- We are undoing old patterns that we have deeply embedded ourselves in; it’s been a long way in and it will be a long way out! A few times or even a short season of Bible reading, prayer, and obedience will not suddenly fix it.
- It is a process, and there is purpose in the process. God is developing our spiritual muscles, which will get easier over time. However, we must keep resisting old patterns, which are natural and comfortable for our old selves, and easy to settle back into.
When we begin to succumb to the feeling that we’re helplessly drowning, we will need to take our eyes off of the circumstances, off of the attractive “remedies,” and turn our eyes upon Jesus. He offers the rescue, but He empowers us with grace to then live in our context to establish new patterns and move through the current circumstances. The victory may not be immediate, but it is certain. We need to recognize that we’re in it for the long-haul – possibly lifelong – but we can take heart in Jesus, who has overcome the world and IS our peace.