To live the holistic life that God has designed for us, we sometimes have to first address the negative. I'm a pretty positive guy, but I think we need to get to the core of the issue.
Soren Kierkegaard called it existential dread. It's an anxiety that is not based on “my job is not going well” or “I wish my marriage was better.” Rather, it's something deep inside the soul which senses that something's missing. We in ministry hear this a lot. People will confess, “I feel like there should be more to life. It’s not as wonderful as I expected it to be.” It’s often true for new Christians. We receive God’s precious promises, yet the reality of our life is still far from perfect. It's an angst of soul and the opposite of joy, peace, contentment and happiness.
In America, we particularly suffer from this dissatisfaction with life. The gap is even wider because we are so prosperous and can access almost anything instantaneously. When we travel to some of the poorer countries around the world, we see that their expectations are simply to wake up and be able to breathe and have clean water. If those needs are met, they are content. I'm not saying high expectations are bad, but our expectations are unrealistic compared with life’s reality. It’s that glaring gap that causes this dread.
Because of our relative prosperity, we may hesitate to ask God to help us with our angst since it’s a “first world” problem, that it isn’t a valid need compared to other countries’ struggles for basic survival. We may even feel guilty for being anxious, but that isn’t how God sees it. The good news is that he understands that regardless of who we are or where we come from, we all experience the same human needs. His design is for us to be healthy in body, mind and spirit.
This is what our ministry is all about. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says the gospel is holistic: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NKJV).
God understands our complexities and limitations. No matter where we are broken, he can and will bring us into wholeness in him.