How do we handle hypochondria as a Christian? (Part 2: The Inner Life)

Where we need to start

This is a part of a series on hypochondria. See other posts here.

This series isn’t some holy grail with all the answers, but I do hope it will shake our hypochondriacs doctrine to the core. Did you know we have a doctrine? We hypochondriacs have a set of beliefs about our bodies and God’s role that we may not even realize. 

As we dive into this first area, The Inner Life, we’re going to look at the faith and spiritual side of our health anxiety. Our doctrine for hypochondria often conflicts with what is true in our faith, so we’re going to address that today. And the reality is if we can be confronted with the truth, we can challenge our current doctrine, which will change us. Yes, we might always have a disposition for health anxiety, but confronting it consistently with truth will change us! 

Let’s start with one that may have become evident as you read the intro or my own roots of hypochondria. 

1. TRUSTING

I must be hyper-vigilant because I cannot trust God’s plan. Have you believed this doctrine of the Hypo Order? He might want me to suffer more than I want to. I mean, let’s be honest. Comfort is pretty high on my list of priorities. After seeing Paul’s life, I’m guessing much higher than God’s for me. And because of that, I think that if I stay alert, I’ll catch things before God will and avoid what He’d have me walk through that I don’t want to walk through. 

We have to ask ourselves, do I want to run towards comfort like Jonah did away from Ninevah? How well did that work out for him? This does not mean you never go to checkups for things that might be off, but it does mean that every little thing that comes up doesn’t need to set our minds swirling, trying to claw our way out of an uncomfortable moment. 

The truth is, God has not promised us a comfortable life, but he has promised us perfect peace as I steady my heart on Him (Is. 26:3), not as I fixate on my ailments. 

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

This is a tough truth for me to swallow. I shared this post about finding the loophole in this verse and how it’s felt like such a lie. How many times have I read that while rattled in fear? Many, many. But I can’t deny that I did so while fixated on myself and my problem and not fixed eyes on God. 

And on the subject of lies in Scripture. Doesn’t Philippians 4:6-7 feel like it, too, in our most spiraling anxious moments? 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This concept of “understanding” has been one I’ve sat with for years. 

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” 

As I find myself in fearful times, I must acknowledge that the way I’m seeing things is MY understanding. Philippians 4 says that peace surpasses my understanding, too. I cannot understand it. So maybe we stop trying to figure things out based on our understanding. 

I think it’s even helpful to frame things up by saying, “My understanding is that this pain in my ribs is a sign of something serious. That’s my understanding.” 

Really acknowledge that what we feel in the moment, may not be how God is understanding things. And if we know that God’s ways are higher than our ways, we can trust that His understanding will always be better and more complete than ours. 

I don’t think the opposite of healthy anxiety is necessarily a sign of maturity. It might mean a false sense of prosperity that nothing bad will happen to you here on earth. Realizing that God never promised healing here on earth or a life free of pain shows maturity. (You might disagree with me here, and I respect that! I wrestled with this question a few years ago. More thoughts here.) What we’re lacking, though, is an eternal perspective. To not feel driven by fear, we must marry our knowledge of God’s actual promises with his eternal plan. So let’s talk about embodying. 

2. EMBODYING

I’ll give it to you. This sounds weird, but I needed one word to encompass what I’m about to share. I’ll take all the suggestions in the comments if you have a better subtitle.