Our society as a whole is in dire need. We have a huge problem with mental health. We have a huge problem with identity and knowing who we truly are. We have a problem with abject consumerism and the never-ceasing need for the next, bigger, newer, nicer thing. We have a problem with understanding who God is and who we are in relation to him.

What do these things have to do with one another? Mental health, identity, consumerism, and God? How do they relate to each other?

Here’s the thing, we’re all in need of something to fill us. For some of us, we attempt to fill that need through consumerism. If I can just get a nicer house, or a newer car. Or the latest iWhatever. If I can just get that raise, then I’ll be set and I’ll be content. But we’re never content. We get the thing or the raise and then we want the next thing or the next raise. It never ends. Our society has trained us to be this way. Watch TV, a movie, social media, listen to music, almost all of it is filled with either blatant commercials or subliminal commercials selling “happiness” to us, if only we get the thing. If I get the thing, not only will I be happy, but people will like me, admire me, and think I’m great, cool, or whatever. But it never works. I can get the thing, but the happiness is fleeting. The next commercial has told me that now I need this other thing, so now I need it to make me happy. It doesn’t end…

Our mental health and understanding of our identity are in crisis. Now, I think there’s a lot going on here and not just one simple answer, but I do think one of our biggest problems is that we have been sold a lie about where our value comes from. Circle back to consumerism selling us on the need for our value to be rooted in our stuff, or what we look like, or our social media followers. Our society has told us that our value is tangible. When our value comes from without, then we lose the right idea of who we are. We develop a wrong idea of who we are, especially when we’re young and we’re still trying to figure out who we were designed to be. Our identities are stolen from us, and in the theft of our identity, our minds are screaming and lost. When we don’t have a right understanding of who we are, it is so very easy to sink into depression, anxiety, abuse of ourselves and/or others, as well as other mental health issues.

So, we have a problem with misunderstanding where our value comes from and how to satisfy the need within our hearts. These problems are tearing apart our minds, our families, and our society. What fills your heart? Is it stuff? Is it longing for the next person to praise, honor, or love you?

Perhaps what we really need is to stop looking around for our worth and our identity and start looking up. Looking up at God and listening to him as he tells us of our value, our worth to him. I know people don’t like to hear it. It isn’t popular, but here’s the truth, God, Jesus, is real and alive. Jesus loves us, each of us, and because he loves us individually, we have worth and value. You are important to God. He loves you. The need within our hearts is our need for a relationship with God, with Jesus. This our problem, we’ve attempted to fill our need for God with a need for stuff, attention, popularity, and it’s leaving us always needing more. We never have enough, because we’re trying to replace God with stuff. Instead of getting our value from Jesus, we’re getting it from society and stuff, and it’s leaving us lost and broken.

Where do we go from here? Well, there’s a couple of things… If you haven’t asked Jesus to rescue you from this crazy world, acknowledged to him that you’re messed up and can’t fix it yourself, trusted him to provide your identity and your value, then start there. Just tell Jesus that you know you’ve rebelled from him and ask for his forgiveness. Tell him that you know that he is God, that he died for your rebellion, and then conquered death to rise and be seated at the right hand of the Father. Ask him to fill the emptiness inside of you and lead you through this life.

And for those of us who have given our lives to Jesus, sometimes we get pulled away from him and start listening to the world. We get our directions from the wrong source, and we start to become misplaced. Here’s the great news, as followers of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us toward Jesus. He will speak truth to us. We just have to listen. When we’ve been listening to the world long enough, it’s hard to hear the Holy Spirit, but pray, speak to him, and he will hear you. He is continually praying for you, even when you don’t know it, and he will point you back to Jesus. Jesus, a relationship with Jesus is what we’re longing for. Listen to Jesus and he will tell you how very precious and valuable you are to him. Listen to him and he will tell you where your identity comes from. Trust him and let him tell you the truth about who you are.

Blessings,

Robba