As you know, I’ve not been feeling too great this week. I’ve not been feeling that good for a few weeks actually, and it’s starting to get me down. I started worrying this week that maybe depression is coming back. I feel so tired and lethargic, not interested in anything. I just want to curl up at home with Mr. Razzler and stay there for a while. I doubt I am even mildly depressed, I think I’m just a bit run down and my imagination is running away with itself. I didn’t want to post anything about how I’m feeling unless I could bring something positive from it.
So… tonight I went to a home group meeting. We were studying Philippians 3:1-11. The passage starts with the words:
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!
I don’t feel like rejoicing. I don’t feel like I have joy in me. Someone said that joy is what gets us through the hardest times. I thought that joy disappeared during the hardest times. We feel joy when things are going well. But that is not joy. What is this joy? It is surely more than just an emotion or feeling. Rejoice! Be glad that you have been saved by Christ. Righteousness through faith. Hope of eternal life.
Our righteousness does not come from the things we do well. It comes from God. It is a free gift from God. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves more pure in God’s sight. So when I berate myself for being rubbish, I am forgetting everything I believe in. I am adding to the Gospel and turning it into something it is not.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. Jude 1:24
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:13-14
I could go on! God is faithful, He makes me pure and blameless. Christ redeemed me from wickedness and He will keep me from falling so that I can be presented before Him in glory. So I can rejoice. No matter how I feel, I can rejoice. I can fix my eyes on Him, the Author and Perfecter of my faith.
3 comments
Comments feed for this article
Friday, 18 July, 2008 at 12:59 am
Daloo3a
Maybe you need to find a new religion. One that helps you in times of need. Turn to Allah and ask for help. I never believed in Islam, I was brought up Christian my whole life, feeling lost, confused, depressed.. when I turned to the quran and Allah, my world changed. I get out of bed and I smile now.
Friday, 18 July, 2008 at 6:45 am
The Razzler
Daloo3a: Welcome! Thank you for your kind words. I have studied (and continue to study) Islam. What can I say? I’m fascinated. But no matter how I feel, if I am tired, even when I did suffer from depression, my faith in Christ was never shaken. In fact, it is Christ’s love for me and the amazing sacrifice He made for me that shall pull me out of this hole.
Sunday, 20 July, 2008 at 11:20 pm
newlongtonmethodist
All I can say is that the Devil comes in all sorts of guises but the only thing we can be sure of is that through the saving grace of Gods love through Jesus we can be saved. There is no other way, not by Allah or any other means. But in the end, whatever choice we make, we will ultimately be accountable to God for our life. If we have put our trust in false teachings then we have to accept the consequences of that.