Defense, Depression, and Divinity in Weakness

When someone breaks into your house, what are you supposed to do? Aim to kill.

When someone assaults you, what are you supposed to do? Aim to kill.

I don't know if I could do it. Even in self defense, the worst I think I could do is to inflict a severe wound, but a life... a life, one apparently not saved... I falter. Jim Elliot and the four missionary men with him, they gave up their lives. They had weapons, they could've spared themselves. But because they knew where they were going, and they knew that if they took the lives of their persecutors, the tribal men would go to hell, they allowed themselves to be killed.

Five men died. The Huaorani tribe later coverted to Christianity.

Jesus prayed for another way to die, he knew what was coming. "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." -Matthew 26:39 He died, spit upon and beaten. "'Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!' So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, 'He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.'" -Mark 15:29-32

A note at the bottom of the page says, "This is both an insult and a diabolical temptation similar to those proposed to Jesus at the beginning of His ministry (Matt. 4:2-6). The devil is still seeking to subvert the work of redemption at the very moment of its accomplishment when Jesus is at His greatst physical weakness."

Aim to kill. When is that relevent? My earthly father told me to do that if I was in danger. My heavenly Father tells me to lay down my life, and even had His Son die. Perhaps I will know when and if such an occasion arises what God wants me to do.

Second thought of the day...

"Because a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms, take yourself in hand and preach the Gospel to your own heart."

That was the headline above the note-taking section in last Sunday's bulletin.

"To myself? What the heck? I know what the gospel says, I'm supposed to be telling others about it!"

...or maybe I didn't understand the gospel.

A. General description of spiritual depression

1. The Look of Spiritual Depression
Physical depression and Spiritual depression go hand in hand. You can't be spiritually nourished and suffer from anxiety and depression day in-day out.

2. The difference between Introspection and Self-Examination
To examine oneself is good, we are told to do just that (Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test youselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" -2 Corinthians 13:5). But when Introspection becomes morbid, a serious look should be taken to see whether we are suffering in our spiritual walk. Knowledge of self must be subservient to knowledge of God.

B. Causes of spiritual depression - do we know ourselves?

1. Temperament (introvert/extrovert; strengths and weaknesses)
As the body of Christ, we are all assigned different gifts and personalities, and it is unhelpful to expect all Christians will have identical walks. While the introvert tends toward depression due to over-examination, the extrovert NEEDS to remember to look at himself and question whether he is on the right path. Most extroverts tend to cover their problems superficially, not desirous to deal with the problems they're facing.

2. Physical circumstances
How do we see ourselves? We zero in on the negatives when it comes to appearances (my nose is crooked/my waistline is too big/my hair is too flat), financial stress, illness and tiredness. The physically weak are prone to depression. The physically strong are prone to pride.

3. After-blessing blues
We're blessed by God with an amazing missions trip/sermon/VBS week/conversation about God/etc., but then we have trouble getting on our feet to do it again. A sign we depend on our own strength instead of letting God work in our weakness.

4. The joy-stealer
Satan uses temperaments/physical weaknesses to cause depresssion in God's people. Fight for faith and joy. The devil likes to tell us how awful and sinful and undeserving we are, but he's only telling us the half of it. He forgot the half about joy in Christ, love, forgiveness, hope and grace...

C. Treatment for spiritual depression

1. The ultimate cause of all spiritual depression
Unbelief. Satan has no power over the believing Christian. If it were not for unbelief, Satan would have absolutely no power. None. He cringes back into the darkness when he senses the light of Christ shining from God's people.

2. The ultimate remedy of all spiritual depression
The joy of the gospel message. Surprise! Bet you didn't see that one coming... Unless you know and believe the power of the gospel, you can't share the joy. You don't know the gospel unless you've truly experienced the hope it has imparted to your heart, your own heart, not that of your parents or friends or leaders in your church. We must learn to speak the gospel message to our own hearts. Who are you letting talk to your heart?

Third thought of the day, which kind of branches from the second thought...

Weakness. Never did I understand from experience what it meant to let God be praised in my weakness.

Most of us probably heard Jesus Loves Me in Sunday School, "...they are weak, but He is strong."

Perhaps you don't struggle with independence, but for the longest time, that was the doctrine of my life. I was going to choose for myself, I was going to decide which direction my life would take, I was going to do what I wanted when I felt like it.

Several hard knocks threw me into very uncomfortable positions in which I was... weak. Independence taught me to rely on my internal compass to direct me in the right way. But life throws you into a hole in the middle of the North Pole where your compass just won't work. It spins like crazy and doesn't know what to think.

When something seems so imperative to me that I want an answer, a direction, I hate waiting for it. I like depending on myself, I taught myself to live that way. But God likes to take me for a ride, not to punish me, but to gently discipline my ways to see things from His view.

I had to stop everything in my life for two days. Sitting, just sitting, on the edge of my bed, staring into space, and praying.

"And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go, for the day has broken.' But Jacob said, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' And he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Jacob.' Then he said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." -Genesis 32:24-28

After two days of wrestling, of questioning what God meant by having me in such a place in my life, I was broken. My will, my own strength, was gone. And I did not feel like wrestling any more, but rather a willingness to accept God as almighty and knowledgeable and the only One with such a personal interest in my life, that He held in His hand the map of my existence. Such a peace flooded my soul at this reassurance that I cannot describe it any better than that I had built a dam of "independence" and "self-assurance" that had pent up the glory of God. But I could not hold the dam up. He broke it down, piece by piece, brought me to where I had no more resistance in my being. And I gratefully received the outpouring of Himself in my heart.

Another note at the end of the page in Genesis, "God dislocated Jacob's hip, the wrestler's pivot of strength. Having previously depended upon his wits and strength, Jacob's natural powers were now crippled. Every step he would take in the future would remind him of his dependence upon divine grace."

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9,10