…the significance of healing within the Body of Christ
I am so glad you are here! I’m feeling Spirit-led to speak on this, and there is a lot we could talk about here. This is part one of a two-part post. Today, we’ll talk about why the Body of Christ benefits from therapy.
In the post to follow, we’ll talk about why Christians seeking psychotherapy will benefit more and face fewer obstacles when working with a Christian counselor or therapist as opposed to a secular one- and by this I mean not just a therapist who in their personal life is a Christian, but a Christian therapist who integrates faith, and is faith-centered, Christ-centered, or gospel-centered, in their work.
Ready? Let’s go.
The past is not in the past
That’s right, whether Christian or not, whether unbeliever or believer, our past is not totally in the past. Our past pours out into our present, in different ways, all of the time.
Our history is alive within us, and so if within this history, there is “unfinished business,” then when our history comes out into the present it can oftentimes be to our or others detriment.
Now, what am I saying here?
First, let me define “unfinished business.” What I mean is that when we have unresolved trauma in our history, when we are carrying core wounds or burdens informed by the ways other people have sinned against us, and we haven’t done work to resolve that trauma, the impacts of that trauma come out in the present.
What do I mean by “impacts of that trauma?”
Trauma occurs when our nervous system leaves a “regulated” state where we can engage socially with others, pray and hear God speak, feel calm, at peace or in control: really, embodying the fruit of the Spirit. Trauma instead sends us into a state of sympathetic fight, flight or active freeze, (also called mobilization) or a state of down-regulation: freeze with collapse, or shutdown (also called immobilization).
When our nervous system goes into one of the latter two states, as a result of experiencing something that left us and our body feeling out-of-control or helpless (i.e. sexual or physical abuse/assault, emotional or physical neglect, hostile discrimination) and we never receive active healing from this nervous system experience, we can and will develop unconscious coping strategies that are a direct result of that trauma.
So these “impacts of trauma” are the coping strategies we take on, which are often not the healthiest. These can be things like restricting food or binge/purging, turning to drugs or alcohol, people pleasing, self-injury, suicidal ideation (thoughts), anxiety, depression, shame, isolating oneself, explosive anger or rage, hypercriticism of self or others, internal or external discrimination, the list goes on.
In fact, the entire modality of Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), helps us identify and unburden the parts of us that take on these behavioral strategies, and heal the trauma underneath.
Renowned late theologian, Dr. Timothy Keller, takes modern psychological expressions and relates them to idolatry. He refers to these socio-emotional-behavioral strategies as “source idols,” and refers to idols such as power seeking, approval seeking, comfort seeking, and control seeking. As a trauma therapist, I view these forms of idolatry, also called idols of the heart, as trauma responses. So even idolatry, which separates us from God, can be rooted in the hurts of the past.
Many of the coping strategies listed above have a sin element to them. They are not an embodiment of “good fruit” but rather anchored in a pattern of sin that was a direct consequence of someone sinning against (hurting) us. Remember, sin does not make us bad, we are created in God’s image and He is the lover of our souls. What sin does make us, is human.
However, the trauma responses, the impacts of trauma, the idolatry, the sin patterns all distance us from living out our purpose as Christians, the glorify God. God wants better for us. That’s why he sent Jesus Christ, the Savior.
We want a Body of Christ that is whole and wholesome.
A healthy body of Christ is of greater service to the Kingdom.
I invite you to look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27:
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
We, are the body of Christ. You, are the body of Christ. In Christ, you belong.
Yet, within the body of Christ, as Paul writes in v. 26, “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
Similarly, Paul writes that we are to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
As followers of Christ, we are responsible for the health of one another and ourselves.
The body of Christ benefits, along with each individual in it, and that means YOU, when we offer each other authentic community and take the time to heal from the pains of our past.
So now that we’re clear on why Christians benefit from therapy, why don’t you join me for my next post where I will explain why Christians benefit from a Christian (and not a secular) therapist, specifically.
And if you’re feeling ready to schedule that free, 15-min phone call with me, click here.
For the gospel,
Grace