Am I Too Disabled to Glorify God With My Life?

This is a common question people ask when they develop severe mental or physical illness. Their self-talk goes something like this: "I used to teach classes in church and bring people to the Lord, and now all I can do is sit and stare at the wall all day, because my mental energy is so low. How can this be God's will, Doesn't God care about ministry and taking His gospel to the world? I thought these were the things that are most important to Him."

The person feels something has gone terribly wrong, and is tempted to doubt God’s goodness and the claims He makes in His Word.

This is often a time of great confusion and testing of one's faith. You learn what you really believe about what it means to be a Christian, and you have an opportunity to sift through false beliefs, and dig into the Word of God to find the truth, to really get to the heart of what faith is at its most basic, fundamental level.

Satan's Goal to Make You Lose Your Faith Completely
But along the way Satan tempts you to lose your faith completely. This is his goal. Both Satan and God have goals, and they are polar opposites, and the trials you are facing have the ability to bring about either goal, depending on how you respond to them. Satan accuses God of having second class citizens, accusing you of being one of them. God picks favorites. He has the missionaries, and the preachers, and the people who are making a big difference in His work, and you are not valuable enough for God to care to use. He also accuses God of not caring about ministry. God isn't loving, God doesn't have His priorities straight and isn't rooted in truth. God has other trivial interests that absorb His attention. God isn't able to carry His work forward to completion.

Job's Story Arc is Yours Too
Does this story sound familiar? If you've read through the story of Job in the Bible you should recognize this same story arc in your own life. The Bible tells us to look to Job as an example of how to pass one's trials and persevere. It says to look to him because we are all going through the same testing process. And for some of us the testing involves illness.

Unfortunately far too many people see Job's experience as unique. While Job being the world's most righteous man is certainly unique, his experience being tested is not unique and it is something every person goes through in this life, in order to choose who they will side with, God or Satan, and the test sifts people in or out of the faith.

I can just picture him there, scraping the boils off his skin with rocks. He could have asked the question of why God had him there scraping his boils off with rocks, rather than having him involved in ministry. He could have looked to others who were doing what seemed to be a greater, more effective work, and felt that his role was unimportant.

Job had been a rich and powerful man. He had helped countless needy people. He had been a very active Christian in his community caring for the oppressed and the poor and showing people in tangible ways what God is like and drawing them to Him. He had what many people consider to be the ideal ministry, the kind of ministry many of us have prayed for and worked hard to endeavor to build.

But his work was not less important when he sat there in dark depression after his children had been killed, scraping boils off his skin with rocks. In fact, this was a promotion. This was a greater opportunity to glorify God than he'd had when he was healthy and happy and successful. Because he was being tested more closely than he had been tested in the past. If he proved faithful here, God would be glorified to a greater extent by his life than in the past.

I'm sure Satan tempted him with the lies he tempts us all with, directly through tempting him in his mind, and indirectly through people. We see Satan use his three friends to endeavor to sway Job's faith and his understanding of scripture to a warped false belief, and we even see Satan use Job's wife to tempt him to "curse God and die." But he refused to fail the test, and chose to trust God instead, and remain true to Him. Even when everything went wrong in his life and sunk him to deep lows, the Bible says he "did not charge God with wrongdoing." In other words, he didn't conclude that God didn't love him or that God had wrong motives or was operating from a place of selfishness. He didn't accept Satan's lies that God was picking favorites, or that God didn't really care about ministry or any of these lies Satan assails us with.

What Does It Really Mean to Glorify God?
When all you can do is stare at a wall all day and say a few prayers because your dopamine centers of your brain have been depleted by severe mental illness, there's a question that is raised in that experience. And the question is this "What does it really mean to live a Christian life -- to glorify God? Can only those with healthy levels of physical or mental energy live a Christian life? Is glorifying God arbitrarily closed off to certain people, with ability being the gate that opens the door and lets someone enter, and disability is a locked door that refuses them entry? Is Christianity based on the principle of ability or capability, or is this a false line in the sand of human devising, and Bible truth is something very different?

The answer to this question matters greatly, because its striking at the heart of what Christianity is. And what it is matters. Because God claims Christianity is the truth, and if it's the truth it will be founded on unshakable eternal principles, not on superficial false principles.

Let's look at that word, glorify. Even just from the word itself without context we can tell that it has to mean something more than just busy-work. It's something deeply spiritual.

At the heart of the word is this concept of being like Christ in character and reflecting that character before the world. To glorify Christ is to reveal Him to the world in your person, in your conduct, your character, and by your faith.

Jesus said: "let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:16

Glorifying God is all-encompassing. It involves the whole of the person and their choices and conduct in the world.

If a person's work is superficial and doesn't involve the whole person, including the heart and motives and faith of the person, then the person is not glorifying God.

When the Centurian believed that Jesus could speak the word only and his servant would be healed, he glorified God, even though little physical or mental effort went into his request.

How did he do this using so little outward resources? Because he had great faith. His faith in Christ as the Savior and Healer brought glory to Jesus.

Another phrase for "glorifying God" is "standing as a witness for Him".

The Bible tells us we are God's witnesses, living epistles read by all men. 2 Corinthians 2:3

Standing for Him in this war of good vs. evil when His Name is being slandered and His character is being attacked is the greatest work we can do for the One who died for us. This is what it means to glorify God.

And that work is one that is spiritual in nature. A great portion of that work is resisting Satan's temptations and dealing with demons each day, refusing to be overcome by their lies and temptations, and choosing to believe God's Word instead.

We are a spectacle to angels, and to the universe (1 Corinthians 4:9). This is a huge part of the work of being a witness for God, the choices we make seemingly privately, which really are not completely private as the unfallen angels are watching us.

Jesus said" "This is the work of God that you believe on the One he has sent."
John 6:29

Once again this is a reference to the whole self being involved in glorifying God, and it being a matter of the heart and the faith of the person.

To glorify God means much more than busywork or talents and capabilities.

What kind of a faith would Christianity be if it were centered on things like ability, resources, intelligence, and purely tangible things?

It wouldn't be spiritual that is for sure. It would be no different from how people in the world add up their effectiveness and pool their resources and endeavor to help others and make a difference in the world using purely human methods.

It leaves God and His spiritual principles out of the equation.

And that is exactly where this line of thinking comes from. It comes from the world. And since we as Christians live in the world and have spent a lot of time here, we are often very influenced by it and its methods and priorities get mixed in with God's truths in our minds and we often believe a mixture of both which we try to live out in our Christian experience.

As we endeavor to live out this melting pot of Christian and secular beliefs we get snagged on obstacles that do not allow us to pass. This causes confusion and we wonder why God doesn't give us success in our endeavors, after all aren't we doing His work?

We can't yet see the false beliefs and worldly methods we're bringing into the work that God can't bless or approve of. But the obstacles lead us to identify the error, and then we can part with these things. Because God and the world do not mix, and He can't allow us to use these methods and ideologies in our work for Him.

The answer is to come apart from the world's ways and spend more time studying the Word of God and looking to it as the basis of all our reasoning and our values and our philosophies that fuel our choices and behavior as we go through life.

The Lie That Ability is How to Glorify God the Best
The person may find that they have actually been believing that being a Christian means ability...that they have looked at people with ability and energy as doing a greater work for God than disabled people. And they have the opportunity now to correct the error, and to understand that ability and energy doesn't make someone holy or even effective.

God performed a miracle taking the 5 loaves and 3 fishes of a boy in order to show core eternal principles of what it means to be a Christian and work for God. And what were those principles? There are several. One is that it is God who ultimately gives the victory, not our own abilities, or our busy work. It takes divine power to be effective in ministry. It takes reliance on God.

Through many miracles in the Bible God teaches this concept. The story of Gideon is another story that depicts this. God wouldn't take the army of 32,000 soldiers. He sifted it down to 300, to show that victory comes only through God. We are insufficient.

The Curse of Those Who Trust in Human Ability

"No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

19 to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine."

Psalm 33:16-19

The Bible actually pronounces a curse on those who trust in people instead of God, and this includes trusting in yourself and your abilities, resources, assets.

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jeremiah 17:5

Another lesson taught in these stories is that of childlike surrender, which is crucial to having the Lord's Presence go with you and work in you and through you. No one can be an effective minister who is not surrendered to God's will and authority with childlike faith.

And another lesson is that of faithful stewardship of what we have.

These are some of the core principles on which Christianity is founded, principles which are righteous, and which are unshakable.

And so if you are someone who had childlike surrender and dependence on God, and is doing the best with the resources they have, to develop them and carry them forward, you're building your life on truth.

But if you are relying on your energy and ability or thinking of these things as being important for success or for rightness with God, then your faith is not fully built on truth and there are some lies mixed in.

The Bible truth is, someone with little energy, talent, and ability, who has these attributes listed above, and someone with great energy, talent, and ability who also has these same godly attributes, are equal in God's eyes.

But this is not what the world will tell you is it? No, the world reveres the intelligent, rich, powerful, and multi-talented person...having more is what matters in the eyes of the world.

In the eyes of the world, giving millions of dollars to church ministry is seen as a great contribution, regardless of how much money the rich person has. Even if it's only 1% of their income it's seen as doing a great work.

But according to the Bible the person who is giving more of what they have is the one who is glorifying God more.

And even as Christians we have some worldly thinking mixed in with our biblical thinking that God wants us to unlearn and to lose.

The trials we go through can draw attention to our false beliefs and our need for the truth.

Jesus said of the widow who put in the two mites into the offering plate that she had put in more than anyone else. And what was the principle He used to evaluate and measure that she had put in the most? Because she had given all that she had.

If someone with a lot of money had given all they had, they would have given an equal amount in God's eyes as the widow. They could have also pleased and glorified God in the same way the widow did. But they would have to give all.

The principle was in what percentage of their money they gave, not what amount of money they gave. I'm sure also that God would factor things into the equation like how hard it was for them to give, how many pressing needs they had and how much of a sacrifice it was to give.

But the world would tell you the two mites the woman gave were meaningless, or that Jesus was just making His statement to be nice, but He didn't mean it literally.

They would be wrong. This is really how the principles of heaven work.

The Selfish Part of Us Wants More to Work With
But I think that part of our frustration of not being able to reach large amounts of people for the Lord and to do a big work for Him is that we just want more resources to work with.

Let's be real here; I'm going to talk to you in a straight-forward way. We still have sinful desires in us even though we're Christians walking with the Lord. We have parts of our character we still need to surrender. Parts that are dilapidated and need to be torn down and renovated. Weaknesses that lead us to want the life of being in charge of lots of resources, perhaps for reasons of pride, or maybe for the legitimate desire of wanting people to recognize that we are doing a meaningful work. People don't question that someone is doing an important work if they have a large ministry and are in charge of lots of resources and are using them effectively to relieve suffering in the world. We won't be met with doubts and unappreciation. It will be clear to everyone that we really love God and man, and that we're really making a difference.

That would certainly be the easier road.

But we need to trust God here. And it develops faith if He doesn't do things in an obvious way, and teaches us His principles of working, which we really need to know.

When we learn that if we give all to God with what we have that this glorifies Him to the same extent whether we have much or little, that should fill us with joy, and be enough for us. It shouldn't matter if people doubt us or fail to appreciate us. While it is wrong for them to do those things, what God thinks about us is far more important, and their attitude of lack of appreciation of our contribution is between them and God; it's not something that is our job to solve.

But to stand firm knowing you really are making a difference and that God values your efforts requires faith. So we need to grow our faith in this area.

And surrender the part of us that wants things to be easier and doesn't want to go down the narrower, humbler path where we have less, and we have to part with the desire for more and leave it behind. But that's exactly the path Jesus is forging for us. It is exactly the path He walked down when He was in this world. It's the path of self-denial.

And so we need to tell ourselves the truth. The truth is if we are giving all, it's the same to God whether we are in charge of a few thousand dollars or multi-millions. And we need to accept that, and go forward with what we have to do the best we can with it.

This is the principle Jesus spoke of when He said "He who is faithful in little is faithful also in much." (Luke 16:10)

What He's saying here is if the person who is unselfish in their ministry with a few people, if they had the resources to reach more they would be just as unselfish with more.

This is because character is what determines how we use our resources.

And so Jesus doesn't necessarily need to give us large assets to build our characters. He can work as effectively with small assets and a humble life to develop us into His image as He could with more.





































The Principle Jesus Uses to Determine How Many Talents to Give Each Person
In the parable of the talents, the Bible tells us Jesus decided on the number of talents to give each person based on his ability.

"To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey."
Matthew 25:15

Let's look at the principle used here to determine the amount each person received.

It wasn't given based on favoritism. It wasn't given based on some arbitrary principle. The amount given was based on their ability.

This would be something like giving the person with a high IQ a job of being a doctor, whereas someone with a lower IQ might be given a job of being a health coach or a CNA.

It's based on their raw abilities, things that can't be changed.

And we know that in this world we inherit genetics that we often can't do anything about. While we can take supplements to improve our intelligence (and I recommend doing so), this only goes so far. It caps off at a certain point. We will not have brains with perfect functioning until we get our new bodies at the time Jesus returns, so until then there are lots of different disparities among people in intelligence, and raw natural ability.

It makes sense and is right for Jesus to give the amount of talents based on what each person is capable of using.

It wouldn't be right to give someone with a lower intelligence level a job that was over their heads and was impossible for them to perform successfully.

Conversely it also would not be right for God to give the person with many different capabilities just one talent. That would leave the person with little to do, and lots of time to fall into temptation.

Neither of these options would be fair and just.

The only fair and just thing to do is to give many talents to the person with more capabilities, and to give fewer talents to the one with less capabilities, and then to measure their success and reward them according to their percentage of increase.

Like the widow who gave much because she gave all she had, the person in the parable who improved 2 talents and made them 4 equally honored God to the same extent as the one who started out with 10 talents and improved them to 20 talents.

The commendation and reward they receive from God will be the same.

When Someone Questions Your Right to Work for the Lord

Sometimes people question your right to work for the Lord. They might say something like "Should you really be involved in ministry if you're having cognitive distortions, couldn't those be confusing to people and lead some people away from Christ?" Or they might even say something intentionally cruel like "You're so mentally slow you have nothing to offer!" You may even question your own right to work for God. I went through a time of wondering this. "Am I a liability to God's work because of my cognitive impairment and my poor judgment; would it be better if I just sat on the bench and didn't get involved in the action, in fact is this really what my duty is, to protect God's work from my mistakes by making sure I don't get involved?"

This kind of thinking makes you afraid of yourself and focus inward, and it goes against the order of God. It is not healthy for the individual or for society.

I discovered through my line of questioning over time, that sitting things out is actually not even an option. To sit out on witnessing for God is to sit out on being a Christian altogether. The yoke of labor is inseparably linked with belonging to the Master.

While it's certainly important to be aware of your handicaps, to minimize damage and error, and to be wise and judicial in your plans and methods, which lets face it is hard to do for someone with cognitive impairment, but you do the best that you can (and hopefully you have some people in your life who can help you with this too)...giving up your calling as a witness for Christ is not an option. And it's not a good thing. It's a very bad and harmful thing both to you and to others and most importantly to Christ Himself.

The statement "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" is also a caution and admonition. You will reap what you sow, so this passage calls on you to sow wisely so that you only reap good things. If you bring selfishness into your work, or worldly methods, or you don't put measures in place to guard against the cognitive errors you can make with your mental condition, you will reap negative results from all these things you weren't careful to factor into the equation.

You might mislead someone and they might embrace error. You might give paint Christianity in a way that gives someone the wrong impression about God and encourages them in sin.

You obviously don't want to do something like that and you want to take precautions against it happening.

But you're also not going to do a perfect work, and God understands this. The God who commissioned you is not looking for immediate perfection, but for good work, done with accountability and a desire to glorify Him.

He's also looking for people who are learners, and will allow Him to teach them in His work and work their characters from within.

Galatians 6:7 is an admonition to sow in such a way that you will reap the kinds of good results you'd like to have and which glorify God.

The Two Ditches
I've learned that while there is a ditch of not being careful enough that one can fall into, there's also another ditch of being so anxious about ministering or afraid of yourself and your handicaps that you don't use your talents at all, or you under-use them, and that neither of these ditches is ok.

Both ditches simplify something that is really complex. Both ditches avoid the responsibility of having to pray and work to not end up in either ditch, and to move down the middle in a balanced and healthy way.

Both ditches remove stewardship from the person to a certain extent. The not careful enough ditch lets you minister but it removes the responsibility of seeing the work as a weighty responsibility and of the need for developing wisdom and in taking the advice of others and spending time in serious prayer with pressing questions.

And the overly anxious ditch causes a person to bury their talents in the sand out of fear. Or to go about their work in a reduced way, not aiming to glorify God in the greatest way possible, because of this crippling fear.

Neither one of these paths fulfills the commission God gave to every one of His children.

What If The People in My Life are Concerned About How My Handicaps Affect My Witnessing?

The people around you have a right to be concerned about your handicaps and how these impact God's work. After all, you are all part of one body in Christ. And you do not have the right to just plow ahead with your own plans when you do have very real handicaps you should be concerned about. These people ought to care, and they ought to be looking for ways to support you and aid you in minimizing risk. There is a very real admonition in the scriptures to give extra care and support to the handicapped. This is a work that they need to take up in order to be operating in the body of Christ the way God has organized us to work.

"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves."
Romans 15:1

They should take on the work of supporting and equipping you, not Satan's work of discouraging you or tearing you down or questioning the importance of your work.

They should not be caring for you in a way where they treat you like a small child and do not allow you to do anything for yourself, and stifle you.

I've heard caretakers of the handicapped say that the best approach is that if the person can do something themselves, you let them do it themselves. You only step in to help when the task is something the person actually can't do for themselves.

This philosophy allows for the person to have a sense of dignity and agency and a sense of being able to contribute something to their home economy and community.

And caretakers should strive to preserve these things in the mentally challenged person too.

To question the mentally challenged person's work and imply that they are too dangerous or disabled to take part in God's work, is to question God's work. To say to you you aren't needed or essential in God's work, is for the eye to say to the hand "I don't need you." (1 Corinthians 12:21) The "eye" might make such a statement, but if it did it would be completely wrong! What can an eye accomplish without a hand? It would be completely disabled to do anything in the world. And what could the hand accomplish without the eye? It would be doing all its motions blind and at a huge disadvantage.

What is Paul's conclusion to this little metaphor? The parts that some might consider to be weaker are in fact indispensable.

Another way of saying this is we absolutely need those parts.

Every part of the body needs every other part. You are needed, not just tolerated, not just tagging along while others do work that really matters. Your work and your role is needed.

Now there might be times when the person is in full psychosis and needs to be hospitalized and have others care for them fully. They may not have any real agency during that time. And there are people in comas who can't contribute (more about these severe conditions in part 2), but short of total mental disability, a work and a place should be found for the person where they can give back to the community and to the church and they should be supported and encouraged to do so.

Put a Checks and Balance System in Place
You'll often need to put checks and balances in place. For instance, one of these checks and balances I put in place since I have a mental illness is I show my work to pastors and I have them read it and check it for doctrinal error. It doesn't just go from my pen to the world at large. It goes through a process where pastors and church members have an opportunity to spot error and point it out to me and have a discussion with me about it, before it gets released to others.

Or if I'm writing a personal message to someone directly and I don't have time to run the concepts by a pastor or church member I will remind the person I have a mental condition that can distort my thinking at times, and that while I'm doing my best to support them and encourage them in the truth, they need to be a Berean and really study this out on their own too. Don't just take my word for it.

You would be surprised how effective a simple checks and balances system like this is! Not only does it work great for spotting error, but it also gets me much more connected with the body of Christ than I might otherwise be, keeps me humble, and draws people to Christ when they see His humble and effective system in place. They realize Christians aren't people who think they know it all, and that our system of working together is completely different from the world's humanistic systems.

God has used my mental handicaps to teach me humility and dependence on Him and the body of Christ and my family; things which are vital for everyone to develop. Having this illness is making it easier for me to develop these qualities than it would be if I were fully well.

Family Often the Best Ones to Find an Effective Place or Role for the Disabled Person to Work In
It's often the family of the mentally ill person who are best at figuring out what line of work fits the person's capabilities. So be sure to recognize your need for them too. Just as they need you, you need them. We are part of one body and if we want to do effective work for Christ, we need to rely on one another and not diminish the importance of each other's work.

You'll need to be humble and teachable and follow their input and value their advice. Let them help you find an area of God's work that is a good fit for you and in which you can be most effective.

It definitely is a sin to be head-strong and launch into something unsafe where your disability could cause you to influence people in wrong ways or give wrong impressions about God.

And you will be held accountable by God if you do that. So don't make that error.

But if they take things so far as to say you shouldn't work for the Lord at all, or if they pressure you to drop essential points of faith, for instance things like they say you shouldn't go to church and meet with other believers or you can't be trusted to share your faith in a careful way, then they are infringing on important human rights and responsibilities depicted in the Bible.

And they have no right to do that.

Similarly if they diminish your work because you are disabled and tell you your work doesn't matter or that you can't make an impact in people's lives because your brain isn't working at 100% functioning, they have no right to say those things. They are just being hurtful, and they go against God's will by doing so.

There is strong admonishment in the Bible to care for the handicapped, and those weaker than ourselves, and to treat them with dignity. Not just the person but also the person's work which is tied in with their person since glorifying God is something we do in our person.

Those Who Don't Work Do Not Have a Right to Eat

When someone tells you you don't have a right to work for the Lord, be grounded in the following verses:

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’” — 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (NIV)

While they are painting a picture that you've done something wrong by endeavoring to contribute, the truth is actually that you are required to contribute and that God will hold you responsible if you do not contribute.

Understand that all of God's creation works, and that their right to life, to exist in the ecosystem of God's creation and to continue to receive air, sunlight, food and water, is dependent on their work contribution.

The honey bees for example, have a right to exist in the ecosystem of life because they meet a real need in the community; they pollinate all the plants.

And this is true in spiritual as well as in temporal matters. A church-goer does not have the right to be fed the Word by pastors and ministered to by elders and church members, and give nothing back themselves to build up the church. They must "eat" and also "work". They must listen to sermons and be ministered to by others, and then take up their own line of work in ministry and give back to the church economy and the community.

There is no right to these things if they refuse to contribute, and a person can forfeit their right to these things. For instance, the wicked (all of us before conversion) do not actually have a right to life as long as they serve self. While living for self is widely accepted and taken as normal in society, it's actually not acceptable or normal at all to God. And people who choose to live that way and refuse to repent will in the end be destroyed. They never had a right to live that way. What they had was grace and time that God hoped they would use to repent and turn from their selfishness.

Tied into the honey bee's value is its contribution, what it produces and provides for the world. Or rather, what it gives back to Christ.

The Bible tells us "all things were made by Him (Christ) and for Him." (Colossians 1:16) This verse tells us that everything holds value in its relation to Christ and the way in which it serves Him.

Animals and people wouldn't have value unless we were connected to Christ. If we weren't created by Him, didn't share attributes derived from Him, and weren't created to glorify Him.

This is why many atheists believe nothing really holds any value. Because in a worldview apart from God there is no reason why anything would be valuable.

The same is true of us too. We have value because we are in His image and glorify Him in our loving service. Tied into our worth is our calling, the purpose for which we are created.

Worth and purpose are inseparable. What I mean by this isn't that a person loses their worth if they enter into a coma or become severely disabled. No, what I'm trying to say here is that we were created for a purpose, and it is in that purpose that our nature was designed and formed. What is a person? It's a being that can glorify God with their good works. And what does it take to create such a being; what attributes and properties must such a being have in order to be able to produce good works to God's glory? They must have moral understanding and be capable of making moral choices. This is what sets them apart from the animals. They must then have a brain that is capable of that understanding, and this is why our brain is different from animals and takes on the properties it does. They must be in two genders or sexes in order to reflect the role of the Father and the Son in the Godhead and reveal God in their nature. And so on and so forth.

I'm speaking of the design of human beings. Just as a watch was designed to tell time and that's what it takes on the image it has, and the different parts, and the reason why they function the way they do -- all of this is for the purpose of telling time -- so God couldn't have made human beings in a way in which we didn't serve the function of glorifying Him and He didn't need us, where we served no purpose. He could make animals who do not glorify Him by good works, and then the animals would have a nature that corresponds with their role and purpose.

But as soon as He decides to make a being that can glorify Him by good works, He makes a person, and that person holds great value above any other created thing because they are in that image of a being that can glorify Him.

What gives us our value is the fact we can glorify Him. Our purpose is tied into our value.

Speaking of a person's conversion experience Paul tells us: "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need."

Ephesians 4:28

This verse doesn't just deal with the sin of stealing; it's speaking in a broader sense here too. The unconverted person lives for self; self is their focus. But at conversion they must stop taking from others at their expense and directing everything they receive towards selfish purposes. They must do a one hundred and eighty degree turn and produce and meet needs of others, with God and people being at the forefront of their minds rather than self.

They must produce and give, and generate, and no longer take and use and exploit.

Let's read Matthew 11:29

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Notice that it is in taking up the yoke --the work of God -- that we find rest! There can be no rest for the soul found while we are still serving self, or if the person out of fear sits on the bench and does not work for God. The rest referred to here is not physical or mental rest only; it is the peace that comes from having your sins forgiven, being right with God, and finally having a purpose that matches what you were created to do. The rest of escaping from the nihilism of self-worship to serving a cause bigger than yourself, God's Name and God's glory.

Everyone needs this in order to be happy. There can be no happiness and no spiritual health in a person who has not taken up the yoke and who is not working for God.

Thus when it comes to doing health treatments to endeavor to recover one's health, working for God can't be left out of this equation.

What I found in my exploration of this topic, when I genuinely asked if it would be better for me to sit things out and if that's what God wanted, was that the person atrophies and society breaks down because society is composed of individuals and families. If you're trying to recover from a brain injury, for instance, and you take the position that because you have cognitive impairment you can't be trusted with God's work, and so you retreat into your room in isolation, you're doing the absolute worst thing for your brain. Your brain needs to be challenged with data and work that is meaningful, in order to recover its neuroplasticity. Even a healthy brain will atrophy and diminish in capacity unless it is challenged; God created our bodies with an important law in place that what is not used ceases to work.

This lifestyle of sitting things out is not sustainable. It doesn't provide enough meaning to the person, and without meaning a person can't have motivation, and without self-motivated people societies and church communities can't function.

My Experience Hiring Freelance Musicians
I've learned from working with music arrangers on a lengthy and detailed Cantata project, that throwing more money at problems doesn't get things accomplished. I think people have a tendency to think this works. But it doesn't. If your workers do not have a natural motivation to do something, you often cannot get them to do it by paying them more. And even if you do manage to convince them to do something they are not motivated to do with money, the job they do is of a poor quality.

What I learned through this experience is there is no substitute for self-motivation. The best work is done by the self-motivated person, and you can't produce a self-motivated person with money. It takes something more than that.

I found arrangers who loved music, and loved crafting intricate detailed music in classical, baroque, and folk genres. If they had this natural desire to excel and improve their craft, they could create beautiful complex music.

But if they lacked this desire I couldn't just pay them more to get them to produce work of this quality. There are some arrangers who are satisfied with simplistic arrangements. And I can't motivate them to study the intricacy behind baroque music just because I need such an arrangement made.

And the same is true of our lives. We can't live lives that contribute in effective ways to our communities if we are not motivated by a knowledge that God's work is important, that we are needed, and that we have something to contribute.

Take away these important truths and the motivation dies, and the person dies inside, and society breaks down and functions at a far less effective level.

So it's just not an option to remove this important truth from the equation that one's work is necessary.

It is not a lifestyle that is sustainable. Like the alcoholic who drinks far too much to be safe and will shorten their lifespan by destroying their liver, so the person who doesn't take up the yoke of Christ is living an unsustainable life.

I discovered this way of life is no kind of answer. And then later I learned about the fact that it violates the rights of human beings, and the rights of God. Every human being has a right to choose Jesus and work for Him, and God has a right to that person's service.

So to imply that someone with a mental illness should just get out of the way and stop working for God, is to go against the scriptures.

Not only this but everyone has a right to work hard, and to reap a very big percentage of increase.

You Must Hold Back
Sometimes people in an effort to discourage or wound the mentally disabled person will imply that sure the person can work for God, but they have to hold back. They aren't really allowed to build a full legacy of productivity and love. They are only allowed to go so far, and leave the important work to the professionals. They aren't allowed to be ambitious because, after all, they might make mistakes.

This line of thinking goes directly contrary to basic human rights to reap exactly what they sow, and to choose what kind of legacy you are going to leave, whether one done with zeal or one done with far less zeal and effort.

It also goes directly against God's very real admonition that "to whom much is given much is required." Luke 12:48

The verse actually starts off by saying some people have more knowledge than others, and if they reject God with little knowledge, they will receive few blows in the judgment. But those who have been given much knowledge will receive many blows in the judgment. Then it says that line "to whom much is given much is required."

In other words, whatever is given to you will be required from you. This is the underlying principle here.

Another way of saying this is God “will repay each one according to his deeds.” Romans 2:6

In other words, to tell someone it would be wrong for them to use all their talents and resources in the service of God, and that they need to hold back maximum effectiveness, is the opposite of what God says. God says He will require that you use everything you've been given to its maximum effect.

Now of course there may be times when you need to exercise caution. You may have a gift you do not yet understand how to use. You may need to have a period of learning or praying for wisdom. I'm not suggesting a person rush ahead without knowledge. We know from the scriptures that "zeal without knowledge leads to missing the way and like driving too fast on a freeway can lead to dangerous accidents of the spiritual kind.

"Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth."

Proverbs 19:2

We want to move forward with knowledge and wisdom. But it is true that God asks of us to use all we have, and He will look for those returns when He comes again.

While He will certainly forgive anyone who has not used all they have in His service, as this side of heaven there is mercy and grace for the sinner, it is objectively more right to use all one has than to use 80% of what one has.

It is not random that God explains this important spiritual law of reaping what one sows. It is a core human right and a core principle of heaven's government. It sits at the very bedrock of the heavenly government.

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
Galatians 6:7

And notice that the right is not only to sow, but to choose how much one sows, and to reap in proportion to how much one sows. Every person has this right, and the Bible is clear that it is objectively better to sow bountifully and that God desires us to do this. To say a person is not allowed to work hard and sow bountifully, is to strike at the very foundation of God's authority as Sovereign. The person who does this -- whether they know it or not -- is endeavoring to mock God Himself and God's whole system of government.

The Bible says "those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly, and those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully."
2 Corinthians 9:6

Indeed it strikes at the very heart of faith itself, disbelieving that God is really the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, implying serving Him does not carry reward.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Hebrews 11:6

This course of action is not in accordance with God's will and plan.

Where the Battle Lies
Where the battle lies in all of us and also those with mental illness, is accepting the work God has given us and being willing to do it in His way, which will require humility on our part.

For instance, let's say you've always wanted to be a nurse, but you have a chronic illness, and you could push yourself and go to nursing school, but you'd probably break your mind and health because you don't really have enough of the energy it takes to go to school and preserve your health while doing so.

If this is the case then even though it's a strong personal desire of yours to be a nurse, surrender it to Jesus and become a health coach instead, or just someone who studies health and shares what you learn with others, with no title.

It takes surrender and humility to turn down a path you desire but that you know is wrong for you. And it takes faith that the work God has for you is just as important as being a nurse would be. You really have to believe that and not see God as picking favorites by letting other people be nurses.

Just as the woman with the two mites put in more than all of the Pharisees who had lots of money, so you can give an offering with your life of great worth to God that can equal or even exceed that of nurses, if you have the same spirit as the widow.

Your goal should be effectiveness, helping others, and glorifying God, not having a title or being respected or appreciated for having a title.

And this is how the path of self-denial works. As you go through life your plans get modified or changed or die, as God brings up His plans and asks you to surrender to them, and leave more and more pride behind so you can do so.

A title really only comes into play when it's required in a line of work in order to serve in that capacity. Like being a doctor requires a degree. It doesn't really make sense to pursue a title just for a title's sake.

Jesus said that anyone who does not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child shall in no wise enter there.

There is a certain attitude we must have in order to receive the kingdom of heaven. It must be done in the spirit of a child.

And too often the pursuit of a title is not about having the spirit of a child, but another spirit altogether is present.

I'm not saying titles are wrong in and of themselves, only that we need to check our motives, and pursuing a nursing degree when you really don't have the mental energy to do it and would break your health to meet a life-long goal is not right.

The devil will tempt us to do things like this. To seek for respect and appreciation -- and sometimes even sinful things like pride -- in illegitimate ways that God cannot approve of. This is the battle we all face in life.

"Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Galatians 1:10

The Bible says the greatest in heaven's estimation isn't the one with titles but the one who serves with the most love.

Love is how heaven measures true greatness.

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8

Titles, the acknowledgment and appreciation of others, should not be our focus. Like Jesus who left the praise of the angels to minister to sinful people, if we fail to be appreciated it shouldn't break us or deter us.

We need to give ourselves self-sacrificially as He did.

And it's important to keep in mind that love in the Bible has a specific definition. And that definition is the character of Christ.

The world has many different ideas of what love is, but the Bible gives the true definition of love: the character of Christ which is the principles found in the commandments.

And this is why Christ could say that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is he who does and teaches the commandments, and he who is least in the estimation of heaven is the person who breaks the least of the commandments and teaches others to also break them.

"Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:19

So to do a great work for God will always involve living out in your own life God's commandments through faith in Christ, and teaching and admonishing others to do the same.

The commandments detail the inherent natural rights of God and man. For instance, the fact that God alone has a right to worship because He is the only Being in the universe who is the Creator of all things and the Lawgiver and Standard of morality. This is detailed in the commandments, as well as how He is to be worshipped.

And similarly the rights of human beings are detailed in the commandments too.

You can not expect to love others by violating their God-given rights.

And so it's not possible to knowingly go against a commandment and yet be said to love God and others.

A person may do many things right and may have a booming ministry as far as statistics go, but if they knowingly reject a commandment, they are considered low in heaven's scale of people who are truly glorifying Christ.

Imagine for instance, if Martin Luther had cheated on his wife in an ongoing unrepentant way. Or knowingly swindled people out of lots of money. And then he told people that these sins were ok to do and God didn't really require fidelity from us in these ways. He could not then be said to be a Christian, even if he continued to preach and teach other commandments.

This is because this is a similar path to Adam when he ate the fruit and rebelled against God. It was just one fruit, and there were many things about Adam that were in alignment with God's will and ways, but it was rebellion because Adam knew God's will on that specific point and rejected it.

The Parable of the Talents
It matters that we work hard! In fact, it is a requirement. The parable of the talents shows this. What a person does with their resources determines their eternal fate. You might be shaking your head in disbelief or shock if this is your first time hearing this, but it is really the truth. One cannot hoard all their money and not give to the church or to the poor and expect to be right with God. Because the action of doing this hardens one's heart to the poor and to God. Similarly a person can't take their body which is actually a gift or "talent" from God, and engage in promiscuity with it, and expect to be right with God. What we do with our body either hardens our heart or softens it towards God.

Stewardship is linked with character, and one cannot be an unfaithful steward and still be right with God, because this is hardening one's heart towards God.

The Bible puts it this way...that we are to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind." and to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Everything goes into loving God, the heart, the soul, the mind, and how we use our assets, abilities, talents, and resources too.

The parable of the talents shows us that one cannot bury their talent in the ground and expect to be right with God.

When God gives us the responsibility of using our talents and resources, He requires us to use them.

In fact when He comes back again He will ask us to give an account of our stewardship, and at that time He will administer rewards.

And He expects an increase of the capital He has lent to us.

This makes sense. Even purely spiritual "talents" are meant to be grown and increased. Love for God isn't meant to stay where it was at our conversion. We are to cherish God, study Him, appreciate Him, give back to Him, until our love increases to a much larger capacity than at the beginning of our Christian experience.

And this love will compel us to use everything we are and all that we have in its expression. Love moves us to use our resources and abilities for benevolent purposes towards God and man.

And selfishness leads people to use everything they have towards self-serving ends.

This is always the case. This is always how character influences stewardship.

But while the world will rely on human capability alone without God, Christians are to increase in capability and assets and resources, but rely on God not self.

We are to take the resources we have, and increase them, not because the work depends on us and our abilities, but because of our love for God and our desire to be faithful. Ultimately it is God who will give the success and He may choose to use us the way He did the boy with the 5 loaves and 3 fishes. And this responsibility to increase our resources applies not just to material or temporal things like money, but also to things like faith and love, which if we exercise them they increase in proportion to the amount of exercise we do with them.

Do The Best With What You Have and Receive the Approval of God
And so the person with burned out dopamine receptors who can't study their Bible or give people Bible studies and all they can do is stare at the wall all day, can give to the Lord an offering with their life that glorifies Him if with whatever little brain energy they do have they choose to believe in Him, and to obey Him.

Maybe they can only study one Bible verse per day. Then they should do that. And trust that He accepts their two mites offering, and that God values it and it isn't meaningless to God. And once you really grasp that your offering is objectively valuable to God, then you will derive great joy from serving God in any capacity -- with much or with few assets. In prison as John was, or free. Through persecution and hardship, or in a free country where its legal to practice one's faith. In full health, or struggling with cognitive impairment.

Because you'll understand that circumstances cannot hinder you or take away your ability to glorify God with your life. No matter what you experience in life you can always render a beautiful offering to God, because Christianity is built on unshakable principles, not on trivial things like circumstances or capability.

And you would be surprised how objectively wise a person can become by studying one Bible verse per day and really giving it their heart and their attention. They can have a better grasp of Bible truth than someone who studies for hours per day but isn't surrendered to God or who doesn't make good use of what they read and implement it into the life and the heart.

It is the engrafted Word which has power in a person's life. Meaning the Word received into the heart that changes the character. Intellectual "head knowledge" that is not received does not have power.

As someone who has been disabled for many years at this point, I can tell you that I've seen God bring quality blessings out of the little I had to give Him that I was not expecting and didn't know could come from so little.

Your Situation Will Not Hinder God's Work
Imagine believing that circumstances could hinder God's work, or keep a person from glorifying God with their life. Really think about that for a minute. God is all-powerful. He has given promises in His Word that in order to advance the gospel, if necessary, even if someone poisons a drink of water that you consume, it won't hurt you. Now of course we know the apostles and followers of Christ were martyred, so this promise isn't saying Christians won't die for their faith. It's saying if it's necessary to advance the gospel for you to stay alive, even poisons will not affect you. It's a promise that Jesus' gospel work will go forward to the whole world and God will accomplish this purpose. And while martyrs did die, we also see the promise fulfilled in situations such as when the apostle Paul was bitten by a venomous snake, and shook the snake off of him and went about his way, unharmed.

With such powerful and unshakable promises, imagine thinking God isn't carrying out His ministry in your own life. He isn't choosing to use you to full capacity. He's lost sight of what's important. To believe this is to doubt God's omnipotence as well as His love.

Learn What is Objectively Valuable, and What Principles are Right Ones From the Scriptures
Until a person has a good grasp on what is truly valuable and what objectively just and right measurements are, they will not have any understanding of the kinds of movements God allows in a person’s life, or the kinds of outcomes He is aiming for, and they will continue to be blindsided by the events and circumstances God allows to unfold in their lives. God will give them the most precious, right conditions to render to Him offerings of devotion and love that glorify His Name, and the person will esteem them as having a low value.

This is a learning curve. It takes time. We need to be studying the Word of God to learn the principles heaven's government is founded on, and give up worldly ideas that operate via false principles.

Rubies and Diamonds
When I was a child our family went through a phase where we were very into rocks and jewels and crystals. And I remember discussing with my siblings which jewels were our favorites. And I remember being puzzled over the fact that diamonds were seen as objectively more valuable than rubies or amethysts. This was a dilemma in my young mind. It seemed so wrong to me. The rubies and amethysts were full of vibrant color, and to me, they were clearly more beautiful than diamonds, which I saw as dull and lacking in color. I really thought the adults had things all wrong here, and that if they came around and saw my point of view and started esteeming the more colorful jewels as the more valuable ones things would be set right in the jewel industry.

Needless to say I've now come to see why diamonds are actually more valuable than rubies, and I no longer use child logic.

But many of us are using child logic when it comes to spiritual things, because we are babes who have not drunk enough of the milk of the Word in order to grow up through absorbing its nutrients, into an adult who now eats the meat of the Word and has a good grasp on the principles of truth and goodness within it.

God gives us diamonds, and we think He gave us something inferior, and that His love for us is lacking in some way because He didn't give us rubies instead.

The Question "Plays God"

I don't mean to imply that no one can ask this question innocently when I saw the questions plays God. I think it's possible to just not know how things work and ask it innocently, or perhaps the person wonders if their time on earth is up to glorify God. We all have a set time to glorify Him in this life; no one lives forever in this world.

What I mean by the question "playing God" is that it comes from the direction of asking about whether God is taking good charge of His own people, of the concerns in His hands, or whether He is allowing people to become so disabled they can't glorify Him.

It slants things in a direction that almost sounds like an accusation against God, and bears the mark of Satan trying to distort truth to confuse us.

While someone can ask the question innocently if they just do not know how things work, and become educated and get to the point where they do understand God's role and a person's role in glorifying Him, the question starts off from a place that makes it hard to get there.

The devil isn't interested in our improvement. He doesn't want us to find truth and become more like Christ. So he creates the kind of confusion that makes it the most hard to identify the truth on any important subject.

In this case tempting us to reach over from our responsibilities as people into things that are God's responsibility.

It's God's responsibility to chart the course of your life, and determine how much brain power and health He's going to give you.

It's your job to use what you've been given to the best of your ability.

The question comes from a perspective that is really God's perspective. It's His job to give you enough ability to glorify Him with your life. It's your job to choose to glorify Him. So the question swaps roles.

A better question would actually be "Can people reach the place where they can no longer glorify God with their lives?" In this question you can see it's implied that they once could glorify God with their lives. God was fair and just and gave them opportunity to glorify Him, but they no longer have.

And then one might ask "How do I know when I've reached that point?" But if you are asking that question then you haven't reached that point. You have something to offer; you have something to give.

And then the next question we ought to ask is "Am I glorifying God to the best of my ability with the assets and abilities I have?" This is the question that puts things back in perspective and allows us to operate in our subservient role.

But we can't put the focus in the right place until we know the scriptures well enough to hit back at Satan's accusations against God with the truth about how He always distributes abilities and talents in a fair and just and perfect way.