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Friday, November 20, 2020

Purity 270: Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


 Purity 270  11/20/2020                

 Good morning and Thank God It’s Friday!

Today’s photo comes from a friend’s hike at Letchworth State Park.  The “Grand Canyon of the East” has some stunning sights, and I will simply have to see it for myself sometime, possibly in the spring or summer of 2021. 

I chose this pic because it’s the weekend and I encourage you all to get out there and see or do something that will bring you moments of peace and joy.  I also chose this pic because this ravine reminds me of the continuation of a project at my house that will necessitate digging a trench and this stream’s cutting a path through the rocks gives me inspiration to move the earth!     

God’s word tells us that by the sweat of our brow we will have to toil and work to provide for our needs.  Working is a reality that most of us can not get around and if we are not careful we can get into a negative mindset about the very jobs that provide us with the means to live and to support our families. So, as we approach the weekend, let’s be thankful for the time off but also recognize the value of our jobs.

We work to provide for our needs, but we also work for the things we want.  We could find employment that could provide the bare necessities, but we want better for our families.

I want a generator, so I have to dig a one-foot ditch for the propane feed.  We make decisions about the way we want to live and have to work to make that possible. 

If you are dissatisfied with work, you do have options.

  1. You can stay and keep doing what you are doing, and constantly be stressed over the circumstance where you have chosen to stay and complain to anyone who will listen.
  2. You can quit.  I know lots of friends who are currently retiring or have walked away from employment environments that were toxic or hostile to their mental health.   The money and benefits weren’t worth their sanity.  It never is.
  3. You can patiently endure and make a plan to leave. Developing skills or education to go onto better things may be hard work but if it one day sets you free, the hard work will seem like nothing when you are finally liberated.
  4. You can change your perspective, appreciate what the job provides over what it costs, and stay.  Focusing on the positive aspects of life and being grateful for where the Lord has brought you is a pathway to peace.

Three of the options require change. Sometimes we don’t realize that our reluctance to change keeps us locked into situations that are untenable when other options for work and life are out there waiting to be pursued and enjoyed.  Freedom isn’t being free of change. Real freedom is endeavoring to be all that God has planned for you.  He wants you to cultivate the fruit of the spirit (Peace, love, joy, kindness, patience, goodness, gentleness and self-control) and being miserable with the life you have made for yourself is not what He wants for you. 

So, if your less than content, make a change. Trust in the Lord to provide for you and follow where He leads you.    

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This mornings meditation verse was:

Psalm 118:28 (NLT): You are my God, and I will praise You! You are my God, and I will exalt You! 

I love this verse because it really points out our relationship to God and what our appropriate response to knowing Him should be. 

Have you made the Lord “my God”? That’s personal. He knows you and He wants you to know Him.  So, pray and read His word to get to know God better and to know who you are “in Christ”.  We can only apply the promises of God that we know from God’s word, so read it and apply it to your life.

As for praising and exalting the Lord, it is the most appropriate thing we can do. He made everything, including us, and not only that but He has revealed the truth of Jesus Christ to us and gave us eternal life and the means to live an entirely new life. He is mighty and worthy of our praise and exaltation. So be sure to regularly praise and exalt “your God” for who He is and for what He has done.

Today we continue to share from Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope Again, where I will share the conclusion of Chapter 2 where they discuss the problem of one sided perspectives and advocate for “focusing on the Software” when treating depression.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Anderson’s books for your own private study and to support his work:

One-Sided Perspectives

One Christian said, "My problem is neurological and my psychiatrist says I shouldn't let anyone tell me differently." She did admit that she hasn't yet found the right combination of drugs, but she had all the hope in the world that they eventually would.

In the same church, another Christian said, "Taking drugs shows only a lack of faith." Of course he had never experienced depression!

How could two people in the same church draw such diverse opinions? We have observed the following four perspectives in our churches that do not reflect a balanced Christian approach to helping those who are depressed:

1.    "Taking medications is not trusting God."

2.    "Depression is a physical illness that can only be resolved simply by taking medications."

3.    "Depression is a spiritual attack and deliverance from demons is the only answer."

4.    "Depression is the guilt we feel which is the result of unconfessed sin."

Such views are incomplete, inadequate and therefore less than helpful for those who suffer from depression. We believe that God relates to us as whole people (body, soul and spirit), people who live in a physical as well as a spiritual world.

Focusing on the "Software"

We close this chapter by looking again at our computer analogy. If our brain represents the hardware, then our mind represents the software. The tendency of our Western world is to assume that mental or emotional problems are primarily caused by faulty hardware. There is no question that organic brain syndrome, Alzheimer's disease or lesser organic problems such as chemical and/or hormonal imbalances can impede our ability to function. The best program won't work if the computer is turned off or in disrepair.

It would be a tragedy for a godly pastor or Christ-centered counselor to try helping a person who is physically sick without suggesting some medical attention. On the other hand, for a doctor to think that he or she can cure the whole person with medication is equally tragic. Taking a pill to cure the body is commendable, but taking a pill to cure the soul is deplorable. Fortunately, most doctors know that the medical model can take you only so far. Many in the medical profession acknowledge that a majority of their patients are suffering for emotional and spiritual reasons.

Our perspective, however, is that in dealing with mental or emotional disorders the hardware is not the primary problem. We believe it is the software—the mental, emotional and spiritual components of the whole person.

Other than submitting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice and taking care of ourselves physically, we can't do a whole lot to change the hardware; but we can totally change the software. How we think and what we choose to believe can actually change our biochemistry. In the next chapter, we will explore how this software, the mind, functions in relation to the rest of the body and the external world in which we live.

 Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.

------------------------------more on tomorrow-------------------------

God bless you all!

 

 

 

 

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