On the way to the Citadel, a column of pillars. Budapest, Hungary
On New Year's Eve at church, I preached on Micah 6:8 and as part of the introduction I mentioned that when we assume and conclude that
This morning I picked up Martyn Lyold-Jones' classic Spiritual Depression to browse again. What a way to start a new year, I thought....with a doze of spiritual depression?
But the title can be a tad deceiving. It’s not merely a book for those with a pronounced sense of spiritual depression. It’s a book for all Christians—for the daily spiritual depressions we all face this side of heaven. And at a time like this when the economy is down, and there is war in the horizon with the recent Isreali strike on the Gaza strip; with 60 people dead in a fire on a New Year Eve's party in Bangkok....in the face of all these realities plus those personal discouragements and frustrations all of us carry on a daily basis - I wondered to myself: How do I keeping hoping for a greater future in 2009? How do I rise up with the faith that 2009 will truly usher in the Second Wind of God (in reference to last Sunday's sermon.)?
I turned the pages of Spiritual Depression for some answers. And Lloyd-Jones ends his second chapter with these challenging and refreshing words:
Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ’. That is your first step. Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about you and your goodness and your plans, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! You just begin to say:
I rest my faith on Him alone Who died for my transgressions to atone.
What I gleaned from those precious words is that I am not to strive for a better tomorrow. I am meant to rest my faith in Him alone. I am to rest in His forgiveness and in His love. I am to rest in His providence and His promises. I am to rest in my God for He knows what He is about.
Isn't that what faith in God all about?
I was brought back to the three decison-making filters I have set out for the year again : to act justly; to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God.
