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Discouragement

“For starters, there’s oversharing. We’re hardly meant, as ambassadors of Christ, to talk about ourselves all the time. Also, not everyone in the church needs to know about everything you struggle with.” - TGC

Discussion

Thu, 06/20/19

I realize one can over-share, but a lot of the biggest blessings a man can have is when he lets others come alongside him in his struggle. Are some churches predisposed to be quite judgmental about depression? Sure. For them, shouldn’t we direct them to the examples of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and Elijah, running from Jezebel right after his biggest triumph, the execution of the prophets of Ba’al? What about Job in his troubles, and for that matter, what about the Guy who sweated blood?

Put gently, there is a tremendous amount of ministry to be done when we’re willing to open up to each other about these hurts, and in a world where divorce ends ~40% of first marriages, and in a world where ~25% of people report a sexual assault in their life, you’re going to have a number of people who don’t simply “bounce back” from the offense. Expecting that people will do so is really the province of Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, no?

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Fri, 06/21/19

Good article. I just finished reading Spurgeon’s advice on depression in “Lectures to My Students.” He talked freely about his own struggle with depression, gave several reasons (all are still applicable for us today) for depression in the life of a minister; and offered biblical relief.

Having battled depression in my own life, I find articles like this encouraging.