"God is punishing me with mental illness because of my secret sins"
How it sounds in your head: I've been looking at porn, lying to my parents, faking it at church—of course God is making me depressed. This is what I deserve. If I could just stop sinning, maybe He'd lift this darkness and I could finally feel okay.
"Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'"
-- John 9:3Old Covenant thinking that teaches sickness as divine punishment, ignoring that Jesus took ALL punishment on the cross including mental suffering.
His youth pastor preached that 'sin has consequences' and his depression started around the time his secret struggles got worse. The timing makes it feel like obvious cause and effect—God withdrawing blessing because he's not good enough.
God called Job blameless and upright, yet Job lost everything and suffered mentally and physically. God explicitly told Satan that Job's suffering was NOT because of sin—it was an attack. Job's friends insisted he must have secret sin; God rebuked them and called Job righteous.
I REFUSE the lie that mental illness is God's punishment for my sin. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus said sickness is NOT caused by sin—it's an opportunity for God's glory to be revealed. Christ took EVERY punishment I deserved on the cross, which means there is NO divine anger left for me. IT IS WRITTEN there is NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus—not now, not ever, not for any sin. My mental health struggle is the ENEMY's attack, not the FATHER's discipline. I am under the BARAK blessing of Abraham by covenant—God blessed Abraham WHILE he was lying, Isaac WHILE he was deceiving, Jacob WHILE he was stealing. My sin does NOT cancel my sonship.
The Father sees your secret struggles and your depression and He's not connecting them as crime and punishment—He's running toward you with the robe and ring while you still smell like the pig pen. Your sin was punished at the cross; He has no punishment left.