Spiritual Depression

What Of It?

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his book Spiritual Depression, poignantly asserts:

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.” 

We all have this experience. For some it is nearly debilitating. The weight of guilt from past transgressions or inactions drains the emotional bank account. The result, as Lloyd-Jones says, is “unhappiness”. Discouragement. And whenever discouragement is left untreated, there is always the risk that it metastasizes into full blown depression.

The issue is not that these thoughts are necessarily wrong. We all have regrets of things we have done and of things we have left undone. What is wrong is how these feelings warp our sense of identity, and consequently our emotional health. What is wrong is how these things rob us of our connection with the greater truths of God’s Promises, often making the one “listening” to these mental accusations feel unworthy, and therefore disconnected from God himself.

The answer is not to simply ignore these mental accusations. There is a very real sense that we are “guilty”, and that we are “unworthy” to enjoy God’s presence. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3.23, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”. John concurs with Paul, reminding us in 1 John 1.8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” and again in v. 10, “If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and God’s word is not in us.”

The solution to our unhappiness is found in what John writes in between, in v. 9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In other words, the remedy to our unhappiness begins by owning whatever part of the accusations are true. We own it, then “confess it” to God. (NOTE: However, we must take care to not embrace what is untrue.)

Lloyd-Jones, who was a medical doctor before entering into pastoral ministry, prescribes that we “talk to ourselves” as medicine for our souls. After “confession”, which is talking to God, we are to “talk to ourselves.” We are to remind ourselves of the promises of the gospel, such as the promises of 1 John 1.9, or any of the many similar promises that are laced throughout the Scriptures. These promises are “greater truths” than whatever is true of our guilt; greater because they are God’s truths, God’s promises to those who rest in his grace, through faith in Christ.

What would such a conversation look like? What might we say to “ourselves” when our minds feel flooded with accusation? The video above provides a powerful example. In this video, actor Joseph Fiennes plays Martin Luther in the 2003 biopic, Luther. In the scene, Luther declares:

“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: “I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”

This is what is called “preaching the gospel to yourself”!

As Luther ostensibly said at another time:

“Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.”

The Determining Factor

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

In his magnificent and practical work, Spiritual Depression, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones provides this wonderful description of the dynamics of genuine Christianity:

“The determining factor in our relationship with God is not our past or present, but Christ’s past and present.”

‘How then does it work?’ It works like this. God accepts this righteousness of Christ, this perfect righteousness face to face with the Law, which He honored in every respect. He has kept it and given obedience to it [through his perfect life], and he has borne its penalty [through his death]. The Law is fully satisfied. God’s way of salvation, says Paul, is that. He gives to us the righteousness of Christ. If we have seen our need and go to God and confess it, God will give us his own Son’s righteousness. He imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, who believe in Him, and regards us as righteous, and declares and pronounces us to be righteous in Him. That is the way of salvation, the Christian way of salvation…

To make it quite practical let me say that there is a very simple way of testing yourself to know whether you believe that… [After] I have explained the way of justification…to them, then I say: ‘Well, then, you are now ready to say that you are a Christian?’ And they hesitate. And I know they have not understood. Then I say: ‘What is the matter, why are you hesitating?’ And they say: ‘I do not feel that I am good enough.’ At once I know that in a sense I have been wasting my breath. They are still thinking in terms of themselves; their idea still is that they have to make themselves good enough to be a Christian, good enough to be accepted with Christ. They have to do it! ‘I am not good enough.’ It sounds very modest, but it is the lie of the devil, it is a denial of the faith… The essence of the Christian faith is to say that He is good enough and that I am in Him!
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As long as you go on thinking about yourself and saying: ‘Ah, yes, I would like to, but I am not good enough; I am a sinner, a great sinner,’ you are denying God and you will never be happy. You will continue to be cast down and disquieted. You will think you are better at times and then again you will find that you are not as good as you thought you were… How can I put this plainly? It does not matter if you have almost entered into the depths of hell, if you are guilty of murder as well as every other vile sin, it does not matter from the standpoint of being justified before God. You are no more hopeless than the most respectable…person in the world. Do you believe that?” 

10 Signs of Approaching Meltdown

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Perry Noble reveals and responds to a stunning statistic:

My counselor shared a statistic with me two years ago that floored me – 90% of the people entering ministry do not retire from ministry. They either quit or have some sort of moral/ethical failure that disqualifies them.

Jesus did not call us to this or wants this for our lives. Yet so many of us church leaders struggle in this area (usually inwardly because if we said out loud that we are dying inside, people might perceive us as weak).

While I am stunned by these stats, I am not surprised.  I’ve seen too many friends flee the frenzy of ministry.  And I myself have peeked over the edge on a few occasions, only to be pulled back onto solid ground  by good friends and gracious church members.  But I concur with Noble: This is not what Jesus wants for those in ministry – whether pastors or church leaders, or volunteers in other areas of the Church.

One reason we know this is not what Jesus wants is because Peter tells us as much:

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be…  ~ 1 Peter 5.2

But the interesting thing about this verse is that Peter tells us both that God wants leading the church to be enjoyable and that it is going to be emotionally taxing.   On the one hand, lead and shepherd because the joy set before us makes you want to do it.  On the other hand, by acknowledging that ministry will sometimes seem like a chore, a duty,  a mere responsibility, Peter implies that there will likely be times when something will rob the leader of the delight.

In his post Noble lists 10 Signs you are on the verge of a meltdown or burnout:

  1. You are beginning to despise people and your compassion for them is continually decreasing rather than increasing.
  2. You often think about doing something other than ministry and your biggest desire isn’t to honor God and reach people, but to simply find relief from the pressure that seems to be building daily inside you.
  3. You cannot remember the last time you simply had fun with family and friends, and joy is something you talk about but are not experiencing for yourself.
  4. You are disconnected at home and when you get there, you do not want to engage with your spouse or your children; you cannot enjoy being around them. You spend more time online than you do with your family and you find yourself wanting to sleep all of the time.
  5. You continually tell yourself and those you love that “this is just a really busy season and that you will slow down soon.” However, the truth is that you have been most likely “singing that same song” for years!
  6. You are continually becoming obsessed with what others say about you and one negative comment from someone who does not like you can put you in an incredibly deep valley and cause you to feel hopeless.
  7. You begin to make easy decisions rather than the right ones, because the right ones take too much work.
  8. There is no hope in you and you actually despair of life. You have thought of death and have even entertained suicidal thoughts.
  9. You are experiencing unexplained depression and/or anxiety. You are having panic attacks and can’t explain it.
  10. You are increasingly becoming withdrawn from family and friends.

While I cannot say that I have experienced all of the above symptoms, I am familiar with most. Apparently so is Noble.  He says he drafted this list from his own life. (See: Meltdown)

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