Purity 264: Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

 

Purity 264  11/13/2020              

 Good morning and Thank God its Friday!!

Today’s photo comes from local friend whole captured a portion of last night’s amazing sunset sky. He wasn’t the only one who was looking up last night as there were a plethora of people who took to social media to share their view of Thursday’s sunset spectacular. 

I share photos like this to not only highlight the beauty of God’s creation but I share them to point to the God who made it all and who placed us all here at this time and in this place to see it and wonder about things larger than ourselves.  

The first evidence of God is creation (who made all this? God did.) and I absolutely love moments like last night when all of our differences and the busyness of our lives can be put aside for a moment and we are literally stopped in our tracks to recognize God’s handiwork.    

So last night, I was reminded of the transcendence of God’s presence and then had the privilege to speak about the fact that the God who painted a masterpiece on the skies is the same God that has come into the lives of the people at Celebrate Freedom and who has done an amazing and mighty work in their very lives to transform what was once broken by pain and heartache into a lives that are defined by peace, joy, love and hope.    

One participant marveled at how they had been able to let go of a lifelong addiction to cigarettes since coming into the program and they were positively baffled at how after so many years of knowing they should quit that they were “suddenly” able to lay the cigs down and walk away and now were two years free.  I reminded them that they had turned to God and in that time frame they had been faithfully attending our meetings and he had earnestly been seeking the Lord’s guidance in his life.  His victory was so subtle that he only recently revealed to us that he had successfully quit. 

His victory didn’t come directly from a sponsor’s help or entering into an accountability relationship.  While our program supports our participants to take on new battles in their lives on a progressive plan to transform all the negative aspects of their lives, this participant had silently taken on what was a lifelong habit with just the Lord’s counsel and guidance.  Undoubtedly this man had feared failure and didn’t want to let everyone know that he was quitting in any public way in case he slipped up but he had kept walking with the Lord and two years later he just nonchalantly admitted that he had quit tobacco. He is a quiet and unassuming man and I made it clear to him that the Lord has been doing the work of changing his heart bit by bit and the reason he has been victorious over his other addictions and cigarettes is because he has stayed connected to God by constantly praying in his daily walk.  

You see this man discovered that the God who paints the sunset sky is real and personal. He discovered that he wasn’t alone and that God was walking with him to accomplish what he had never thought he could. 

So as we walk into the weekend, it is my prayer that all who read this thank the Lord for what He has done in creating this world and for creating them, and to ask God to be a continual part of their lives so they can experience the peace and freedom that may be subtle at times but is positively supernatural in the way that  He can give us new life.

Today we continue in Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope Again, where they discuss the severity of depression and how our emotions act as a warning signal that we shouldn’t ignore and that the right thing to do is get help if we are experiencing these signals.  

 

Severity of Depression

Degrees of depression lie on a continuum from mild to severe. Everyone experiences mild depression from the normal ups and downs of life. These mood fluctuations are generally related to health issues, mental attitudes and the external pressures of living in a fallen world. In our experience, those who scored between 30 and 45 can manage their own recovery—and hopefully the contents of this book will help them do just that.

Those who score lower should seek the help of a godly pastor or Christ-centered counselor; or, if the cause is found to be "endogenous," as explained in the next chapter, a medical doctor. Those who score low on the inventory need the objectivity of someone else to help them resolve their conflicts.

Please keep in mind that it is not a sign of failure or weakness to seek the help of others. We are supposed to "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Every person absolutely needs God, and we necessarily need each other. Usually it is a sign of pride and immaturity not to admit a need.

Have you ever noticed that few people struggle with seeing a medical doctor if they are sick, or seeing a lawyer when they need legal advice? But for some reason we resist seeking help for emotional and spiritual problems. In our observation, secure people in Christ have no problem admitting their weaknesses. They are emotionally honest, as Jesus was when He wept over the city of Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus. He willingly admitted His need for emotional support when He cried out in the garden of Gethsemane, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch" (Mark 14:34). That is emotional honesty.

Emotional Pain As a Warning Signal

What are our emotions? I like to think that our emotions are to our souls what our ability to feel is to our bodies. Suppose I had the power to remove the sensation of pain, and offered it to you as a gift. Would you receive it? It sounds tempting, but if you could not feel pain your body would be a hopeless mass of scars within weeks. The ability to feel pain is your protection from the harmful elements of the world you live in. Depression is a pain in the soul signaling that something is wrong.

Think of emotional pain as an indicator light on the control panel of your car. When that light comes on you have three possible responses.

Suppression: Ignoring the Warning

You can ignore your warning signal by putting a piece of duct tape over it. You may even be able to convince yourself for a while that the light is not on. That is called "suppression"; and in the long run it is very unhealthy for you. It is also dishonest when the cover-up is intended to convince others that everything is okay.

Indiscriminate Expression: Breaking the Signal

Another option is to take a small hammer and break the light. Applied to our emotions, this is called "indiscriminate expression." It may be physically healthier for you to wear your emotions on your sleeves, but if you express them without discrimination it isn't healthy for others.

Scripture has a lot to say about being slow to speak and slow to anger (see James 1:19). Be cautious about getting something off your chest at random, or letting your feelings be known to all. Such displays will never bring the desired result. In suppression, the hurting person pulls away. In indiscriminate expression, others pull away.

Acknowledgment: Discovering the Cause

The third option when your car's warning signal comes on is to look under the hood and seek to discover the cause. That is "acknowledgment." In other words, be honest about how you feel for the purpose of resolving conflicts and living in harmony with God and His creation. This book is an attempt to "look under the hood" to discover the causes and cures of depression.

Now it is time to examine the relationship between depression and the ways the "instrument panel" of your body may send a warning.

 
Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.

------------------------------more tomorrow----------------------

God bless you all!