Mark Driscoll is giving away a free chapter from his new book.
Thabiti continues his series on being a complimentarian…but
Al Mohler comments on the redefining of retirement
Joe Thorn reminds us that Grace and Mercy Make the Difference
A sure way to ensure not having an audience with me is to trash my wife. If some person decides that they want to speak ill of my wife to me (and this rarely happens) they quickly realize they made a foolish mistake. They’ll never win. You know why? Because I am decidedly on her side.
In an even greater way this is the case with the Lord when Satan brings accusations against us. When he starts dogging on God’s Bride (see Zechariah 3) Satan is met with a sharp rebuke. It is the same case with believers today. Written over us is a great banner that says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
God is deaf to Satan’s accusations, because He knows they are now groundless. His accusations are in vain. Those that are in Christ Jesus are IN Christ Jesus and there is NOTHING that death, life, angels, rulers, devils…can do to change that. No amount of Satan’s accusing will win an ear with God. Why? Because I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine.
That’s a wonderful truth isn’t it. But here’s the kicker. Even though I won’t listen to somebody trashing my wife, there are times when my wife would listen to darts of slander. I’m deaf to their pleas of ignorance, but she isn’t. She will sometimes believe them. And what is worse (and we all do this) she’ll sometimes believe the negative and the accusation over my own opinion of her. She’ll think that perhaps I’m just blinded by love.
We do the same thing when the Great Accuser brings his charge against us. Other than listening to our husband and living in full confidence of truths like Romans 8:1 (“There is no condemnation”) we begin to believe the serpent.
We start to wonder if we really are accepted by God.
We start to look at our sin and we are convinced that it weighs more than our Savior’s merits.
And then we start distancing ourselves from our husband. Maybe from shame. Maybe from pride. Certainly in ignorance. And then we feel that distance. So, we convince ourselves that there really is a great chasm between us and God. We are now convinced that God is deaf to our cry.
But the opposite is true. We are invited to “draw near to throne of grace” and to do it with confidence because our High Priest has made his body an immovable door-stop into the house of God. God is not deaf to you, believer! God is deaf, to the accusations that you started believing.
So, listen to your loving husband today and not a liar that seeks to destroy you.
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P.S. Even if today you decide not to listen to your loving husband and you listen to the accusation of the devil, it still doesn’t change the story! God is still deaf to his accusations and his ears are open to your plea. This is a call to experientially live at the throne of grace. If you are in Christ, you’re covered by grace whether you know it or not.
I have a confession to make. I’m a pastor and I battle depression. And not simply transient feelings of being down either; I battle deep-seated feelings of worthlessness. I can even be prone to anxiety attacks. A couple of days ago I posted, from this book, ten types of false thinking. I struggle with around 70% of them. I’m a Christian, I’m a pastor, and I get depressed.
But it is not only my own bouts of depression that makes this book by David Murray a welcome addition to my library. As a pastor I also rub shoulders with quite a few people that are battling depression (in some shape or form). I have very close family members that struggle with depression. So, I am very interested in books on depression. And I don’t read them as a distant observer.
When given the opportunity to begin reviewing books for Reformation Heritage this was one that really caught my eye, so I jumped at the chance to review it. And I am glad that I did. In fact I actually read this little booklet (only 112 pages) in one night. David Murray is extremely wise in making this book so practical and short in length; because, as he stated, “Depressed people cannot read hundreds of pages” (xi).
One of the debates raging within Christian circles is the role of medicine and psychology in Christian counseling. There are strongly held opinions on each side (or better stated sides) of the argument. So it is surprising that in such a small book Murray successfully takes on some of these divergent opinions. He aptly summarizes the majority positions and argues for a balanced approach that pursues humility and rejects dogmatism. I tend to agree.
Hopefully this will not cause him to be dismissed by either the “all physical” crowd or the “all spiritual” crowd. Regardless of what position you hold I think we should all agree with Murray’s call for humility, and with it being such a complex issue we should approach surety with trepidation.
After pleading for humility in the midst of complexity Murray begins to address the condition of depression. He offers a very helpful ten points of false thinking:
These are extremely helpful to identify. I have found that one of the most helpful things in combating my own bouts of depression is for my false thinking to be exposed and then the balm of truth and grace is then able to be applied to my soul. But usually until grace breaks through, via someone exposing my false thinking, I will stubbornly grasp onto my ignorance as if it is saving my life. This section of Murray’s book will be a constant companion for me.
Murray, also interacts with other symptoms of depression, but the vast majority of his treatment concerns false thinking. After exploring the symptoms Murray then charts out potential causes and finally attempts to offer some help in exploring a cure. And really that is where the rubber meets the road. Unless this book has something helpful to offer by way of “cure” its really not much good.
So, what is Murray’s suggestion for a cure?
As with most everything else in this book Murray is short and to the point. He encourages the reader to correct lifestyle, false thoughts, brain chemistry, and spiritual life; depending on where the problem lies.
You will have to read the entire book to fully explore his answers. But I will say that they are very simple and helpful. I appreciate that Murray does not go into lengthy discussions and give a depressed person a million different strategies to apply. He is simplistic without being given to simplism.
One of the things I appreciate most about Murray’s treatment of depression is this statement:
“One final cause of depression in the Christian is the sovereignty of God. Hard though it may be to accept, the ultimate cause may be, ‘It pleased God’. This, however, is not some sheer arbitrary, sadistic, and pointless infliction of suffering. Not at all. God has wise and loving motives and purposes in all His dealings with His children.”
I love Murray’s honesty, balance, and modeled humility in this book. It will certainly prove to be a faithful guide to anyone struggling with depression. I’m not 100% sure that I would go quite as far as Joel Beeke yet. Who says, “If I had a family or church member fighting depression, it is the first book I would hand out.” But I have to say that it would certainly be in my top 3.
This book is not meant to be a stand alone or a cure all for someone struggling with depression. At the end of the day the only hope that a depressed (or non-depressed) person has is Jesus Christ. In as much as this book points people to Christ to heal every wound it will be eternally helpful. With that in mind, I firmly believe that if a depressed person read this book he/she would be put on the right track at least.
I would heartily recommend this book. And it’s only 5.00 on Ebook or you can get the hardcopy from Amazon for only $7.50
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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a really great article by Bill Mounce on being “Christian Nice”. Here is a sampling:
Until then, I suspect we will continue to treat people in the church who behave (at least) like they are going to hell (according to Paul) with a Church Nice that refuses to acknowledge that they have hurt us, and the wounding is so great that without repentance there can be no relationship.
A great reminder that we will never lack until Christ is poor.
Dr. Schreiner was recently interviewed concerning his new commentary on Galatians. Check out the interviews here.
Wise words from Jared Wilson on criticism.
As a father I can certainly relate to Mark Altrogge’s words here: The Sure Sign of Self-Sufficiency.
This is a touching story. Unfortunately his story is being pimped by a ton of different people. Let’s pray this sudden rise to fame doesn’t cause this man to crash and burn:
(HT: Z)
I reviewed one of David Murray’s books yesterday and just discovered today that he has a blog. I liked this article on sheep.