No more

"How blessed is he who transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit is no deceit!"
Psalm 32:1

It is amazing the difference these past (almost) 14 months have made. Before this depression started I had already read the Bible twice through. However, in recent months I have started to read verses like I had never seen them before. The above verse is a great example. Have you read this verse? Do you recognize what it says? Have you been thunderstruck by the absolute wonder that is this declaration? Look at it! If you are in Christ, your sin is covered!

Now that doesn't mean that as Christians we don't sin. In fact, if you claim that you do not sin, you are not a Christian (1 John 1:8). But the very next verse in 1 John says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We have forgiveness. We have covering of sin. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) No condemnation. None.

I must be very careful here. I do not want to give false hope for false converts. Read through 1 John if you doubt your salvation. The letter was written for the sole purpose of letting people know whether or not they are really saved (1 John 5:13). The Bible exhorts us to test ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). If you fail the test of salvation, then that psalm does not apply to you and you should be very afraid. Fall to your knees immediately and cry out for salvation. Read the first three and a half chapters of Romans so that you may see the full reality of your wretched state. I don't say these things out of self-righteousness or hate. I say these things for your salvation.

But if you are saved, you have no excuse for not feeling the greatest of joy. Keep in mind my earlier posts: I am no stranger to the terrible reality of spiritual depression, so I am speaking out of experience. If you cannot feel this joy, meditate on Psalm 32. You bear your sin no more. No more. You must realize this; it is the key to all Christian joy. Read Luke 7:36-47. Read the first five chapters of Romans. Do you realize that Paul begins his great treatise on the gospel by spending the first two and a half chapters explaining what a horrible sinner you are? But after bringing you to your knees and ripping every last shred of self-esteem and hope in self-righteousness from you, he explains the gospel and then quotes Psalm 32:1.

If this reality has not struck you, if you have not come to the realization how wicked and vile and abominable you were before God in your unconverted state, stop everything you are doing in your life and meditate on the word of God until you come face to face with the vileness of your self without the merit of Christ. But despite the horrid nature of your sins, Christ's blood covers them all. God "will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25) They are gone forever. Rejoice! I can't stress it enough. This is the key of all Christian joy. You bear your sins no more. When God looks at you He sees the merit of Christ. Your sins are gone. They are paid for by the precious blood of Christ. You bear your sins no more.

For Christ,
Daniel

Glorious, unanticipated joy

"Salvation is from the Lord."
Jonah 2:9

It's amazing, considering the mood of my last post, that I should be writing about joy. But that is what I feel right now. It is so wonderful. Let me back up a few hours.

I was sitting in my room earlier tonight, just minding my own business, and dwelling on a harmless theological question. I was wondering which came first: regeneration or confession. That is, is it our confession of sin that causes us to be born again or are we born again first which causes us to confess? I decided that regeneration comes first. I could be wrong, but that's not really relevant to this post. That question led me to the realization that my very act of repentance is an act of God, a working of grace in my heart. We are born with a depraved nature. We "have all turned aside" (Psalm 14:3). We are incapable on our own of coming to God.

Where am I going with this? A big part of my depression that I mentioned in my last post had been my assurance of salvation (or lack thereof). I had started to question whether I really was born of the Spirit or not. Thoughts leaning toward the negative answer had left me bitter. I was occasionally angry with God. I had confessed my sins. I had been broken over them to the point of tears. Had God not held up His end of the bargain?

But salvation is not a bargain. What can I offer to God? The entire universe is His property. There is nothing that I have that I could trade with. Even my acts of so-called righteousness "are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6). So, what is salvation? Grace. "[I]t is the gift of God... so that no one may boast." (Eph. 2:8-9) We can only be saved by the Father drawing us to Christ (John 6:44). Conclusion: The very fact that I have truly repented is a result of the work of God. Will God accept my repentance? Of course He will. He's the one who worked in me to repent in the first place.

Salvation is not us coming to God, begging for forgiveness, and God begrudgingly consenting. He doesn't sigh and say, "All right, since you asked nicely." God says instead, "I have called you by name; you are Mine!" (Isaiah 43:1) It is He who comes to us and works salvation in us.

If you are in Christ, "[t]ake courage... your sins are forgiven." (Matt. 9:2)

For Christ,
Daniel

Pray

"Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray."
James 5:13

For a little over 10 months now I have been suffering through spiritual depression. It hurts. It hurts so much some times I just want to die. I don't mean that I'm suicidal, I just want to stop living. I want to stop existing because right now existence means suffering. By God's grace I haven't done anything rash. This is the reason for my last post and also the reason why it has taken me so long to post again. It's so hard to give advice when I feel spiritually dead inside.

However, what I can understand I will write about. I can still read the Bible, and although much of it confuses me, it does give advice that is crystal clear. We are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) and to "pray and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1). So many of the Psalms are the psalmist crying out in absolute anguish to God.

It is tempting to give up and collapse inwards, giving up on all hope of salvation. It is also tempting to leave spiritual matters alone until you're better and then tackle them. That is not what the Bible teaches. Don't leave spiritual wounds untended and don't give up. Pray. Pray. When you're done with that, pray some more.

There are so many Christians more mature than I am. I'm only 25 years old. There are realities of the Christian life that I have not experienced yet. Some may think that I am not qualified to give advice on how to deal with spiritual depression, especially since I'm still in it. I don't have all the answers. I haven't learned all the lessons. But I know what the Bible teaches. And for a Christian there is no arguing with the Word of God.

I used James 5:13 for the main verse of this post. However, I want to leave you with one more verse:
"[W]ill not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?" (Luke 18:7)

For Christ,
Daniel

It's going to hurt

"Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you."
John 16:20-22

There is a very dangerous thought that has invaded some areas of the Christian church. Some people believe that when you become a Christian God makes your life perfect. And then when we realize that our life is not perfect, that it's full of failure and pain and sickness and trials, we think that something has gone wrong. We think that either we're bad Christians, or God has abandoned us, or that we were never Christians to begin with, or that God never existed to begin with. I want you to know that this concept has ABSOLUTELY NO Biblical foundation whatsoever. The "Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Gospel" is heresy.

Was David a bad "Christian"? Was Jeremiah? Was Joseph? These people Suffered. Why? Did God forget about them? Did God just not care? No! Listen to what Jesus says! What you're going through are birth pains. They're necessary. According to 1 Peter 1:6-7 these trials that we go through result in the refining of our faith and they will ultimately "result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7)

This life is going to hurt. It's going to be hard. You're going to cry and mourn and wonder how you're going to make it through each day. But God hasn't messed up. He hasn't forgotten about you. Know that when you suffer, everything is going according to plan. So endure. Because when the birth pains are over and new life comes into the world our hearts will rejoice. God is coming back! He hasn't left us! He knows what he's doing!

Now it is true that some of the suffering we are going through may be a result of our sin. It's possible. If there is sin that is weighing on your heart, drop to your knees this instant and seek the Lord's forgiveness. But know that if suffering does come as a result of sin, it is because the Lord is our father and a father disciplines his children. I remember when I was young that I was spanked a lot. I hated it. No one likes being spanked. I cried every single time. But one thing that stood out was that every time after I was spanked my dad pulled up my pants and told me why he did it. He didn't do it because he was just a mean man. He did it because he loved me. He explained that if he didn't love me he wouldn't care what I did. He wouldn't care that I misbehaved and acted unbecomingly. But a good father disciplines his children in love. It is for your good.

God is coming back. We will rejoice when he does and no one will take our joy away from us.

For Christ,
Daniel

Pointing the finger

"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Matthew 7:5

I was thinking last week about what I would write about for my next post. As it says at the top of this blog, I want to use this as a medium to helping my fellow Christians present the Gospel more effectively by analyzing ourselves. Unfortunately, I forgot that "ourselves" includes me. I kept trying to think of some problem that I, as the perfect and enlightened Christian man that I am, could help my less spiritual brothers and sisters with.

Jesus talked about this, not only in the fore-mentioned passage, but also in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee told God how he was not like that tax collector and how he had kept himself holy. However, Jesus referred to such men as "whitewashed tombs" (Matt. 23:37), which were beautiful on the outside but inside were full of death. The tax collector, instead of talking about how spiritually mature he was, could not even look up to heaven. He could only cry out desperately, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" According to He who will judge all of mankind on the last day, this man was justified rather than the Pharisee.

I have come to realize in the past few months that the attitude of the tax collector is what spiritual maturity should look like. It's not parading about our "holiness" so others will see how great we are. Such men "have their reward in full." (Matt. 6:2) Spiritual maturity is recognizing that Christ saved me, that Christ needed to save me, because I'm not perfect or enlightened. I am in a constant state of sanctification. There are still sins that I struggle with. I still get arrogant, both academically and spiritually. These are sins. God said that I must work on myself first before I can start lecturing the rest of the Body.

It is my intention that I will never post on this blog about a problem that I have not struggled with myself. I want this blog to be for God's glory, not my own. Please pray that God will keep me humble.

For Christ,
Daniel

This is not our home

"... To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia..."
1 Peter 1:1

There is a problem with Christianity in America. It is a belief that many Christians seem to hold, although perhaps not consciously. The belief is that America belongs to us. We seem to think that the unbelievers who share this country with us are strangers, immigrants, and that if they want to keep living in this great country of ours they had better get with the program. After all, George Washington was Christian, wasn't he?

I have to admit, this is an attitude that I myself held for years. It is very appealing. We are brought up as Americans to see our country as this great pinnacle of civilization and enlightened ideals. We get excited at the Fourth of July. We take off our hats at baseball games when they sing the national anthem. We Christians like to take that wave of patriotism a step further. We love to point out how many of the founding fathers were Christians and how America was built on Christian principles. Now this can be a good thing. I think it is important that people realize the theological foundations of the great ideals that we cherish.

So, what's the problem? First, it should be pointed out that not all of the founding fathers were Christians. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, was a deist. But that's a minor point. The main problem that arises out of this is that Christianity is portrayed as merely a byproduct of patriotism. "If you don't go to church you're not being a good American." This is essentially the message that I believe we're sending.

Give me a break. This country does not belong to us. America is not a Christian nation. I'll say it again: America is not a Christian nation. How much more effective would American Christians be in spreading the Gospel if we only realized this? The Bible says that we "reside as aliens". We are the strangers. It is the non-Christians whose home this is. Many non-Christians want to take "In God We Trust" off our money. So do I. You may think that I'm being sacrilegious. Let me ask you, does putting that phrase on our money really help the Kingdom of God? I highly doubt it. We don't need God on our money, we need God in our hearts. We need God in our actions. How much differently would Christ be perceived in this nation if the only Christianity that was seen was the work of the Holy Spirit being evidenced in speech and deed? Let us renounce as believers once and for all any claim we have to America. We already have a land that belongs to us. But it is not found on this earth.