A mental health epidemic exists today among young people. Gen Z is more lonely and depressed than any previous generation. Their hurt presents an incredible opportunity for Christ-followers to share the restorative gospel of Jesus.
I don’t mean the “positivity gospel” that has seeped into the Church, but the authentic gospel that Jesus Himself taught. Much like the prosperity gospel, the positivity gospel promises that accepting Jesus guarantees a life exempt from pain and hurt. That a “good” God can be counted on to ensure that we enjoy a happy, thriving, successful life.
But this false doctrine shortchanges who Jesus is — and can keep us from experiencing the personal, trusting relationship He freely offers. To ignore your sin and human condition is to the cheapen the amazing grace of His gospel.
For 50+ years, Josh McDowell Ministry has been leading seekers into a deeper knowledge of God’s truth and power. We offer you our accumulated knowledge and research to help you find truth and encouragement to live a healthy and whole life in Christ.
Healing Your Hurt Through Relationship
God is not primarily concerned with our being “happy” or “comfortable.” Rather, as the great Christian writer C.S. Lewis once stated, pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world. Our loneliness and hurt is a symptom of the problem we’d rather ignore: our sin and the broken world it causes.
I know Jesus heals. With His help I have overcome the porn addiction, shame, and woundedness of my past. I have found true freedom. But I don’t now thrive because Christ healed me from that hurt. I thrive because while I was once dead in my sin, I am now alive in the grace and love of Jesus, my Savior.
Jesus heals our anxiety, loneliness, depression, and other hurts as we live a relationally intimate life with Him and the people He places in our life to help us.
How to Enter Into a Relationship With Jesus?
Admit that you are broken, and the root cause is your sin.
The Bible tells us that Jesus taught that our issues and hurts start with our heart. In Matthew 12:34-35, Jesus says, “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” At the root of our actions and behavior is our broken, sinful nature. Our sin separates us from the Holy God who created and unconditionally loves us. In choosing Jesus as Savior, we are restored in right relationship to God. Our sins are completely covered by Jesus. Goodbye, guilt, failure, and fear! We get to begin again!
Accept that Christ has unlimited power, but sometimes allows hurt for His purposes.
There is nothing that God can’t do. Yet He doesn’t always heal our hurt in the way or timing we think He should. The Bible promises us that God’s plans are always best, and work for our good. God does not like that we live in hurt and pain. He wants us to walk in joy and freedom. When we choose to believe that He loves us unconditionally, we can decide to daily trust Him, our hearts and hands open to His will and His timing. God is for us!
Recognize that Christ has an eternity mindset; we should, too.
Our earthly lives are short and temporary. As I read the apostle Paul’s letters in the New Testament, I am awed by his eternal mindset. Paul clearly grasped the truth of the gospel message and his sinful nature. He understood that his relationship with Christ will last for eternity, so he made it his priority. Jesus should be our primary focus, too. Jesus, alone, can heal the loneliness and hurt we experience from a life crippled by our broken souls in this broken world. Let’s seek Him to know Him, and to watch Him work through the hurt in our lives to produce good!
Jesus saves. Jesus comforts. Jesus restores. Jesus brings us to life!
Next Steps:
- May we pray for you? Click here.
- Want to start a personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.
- Check out Josh’s book, More Than a Carpenter, to learn about the historical evidence of Jesus. He lives!
- Want to a thriving life to deal with your hurts? Check out our Resolution Movement.
