The D Word

It’s a subject not discussed in polite Christian company.  We agree without even conversing that the matter is taboo.  Dare speak of it and be greeted with raised eyebrows. Am I referring to some twisted sexual perversion or radical ideology?  No, I am referring to (hushed tone) depression.  There, I said it!  Already some of you are looking for another article to read!

Christians just don’t talk about depression.  By our silence we suggest that Christians don’t suffer from depression.  But Christians do suffer from it ranging from low grade depression to acute depression of the clinical variety.  By our refusal to talk about it we sentence out brothers and sisters living in that dark place to shiver in the sinister shadows of the soul all alone.

Recently, a ministry leader suggested to a group that a speaker on the subject of depression be enlisted to minister at their next event.  The idea was quickly dismissed.  Their reasoning?  ‘’That would be too depressing.’’  We don’t want to go there.  However, many believers have been there and many remain there and we exacerbate their pain but declining discussion of the numbing reality called depression.

A quick read of the Psalms along with the deep inky darkness of Job and you will be convinced that God does not consider depression the taboo stigma we do.  Christian history has had its share of notables who suffered from this ghoulish punisher. Accomplished hymn writer William Cowper was menaced throughout life by such inner torment that he sought to end his life.  Preacher extraordinaire Charles H. Spurgeon was pained by chronic gout which often bled over into a depression requiring extended stays in warmer climes for recovery.  Magisterial reformer Martin Luther was given to melancholy moods nothing short of morose.  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, royal physician turned pulpiteer, considered spiritual depression one of the greatest maladies impacting the church.

Elijah would have been voted by the best of us ‘’Most Likely to Succeed.’’  We would think him inviolable to such dark demons as those associated with depression.  He is, however, the quintessential biblical case study in depression.  1 Kings 19 tells his bitter struggle with the typical cluster of psycho-spiritual-physical symptoms of full blown depression.  Erratic eating and sleeping patterns, a persecution complex, isolation from others, a preference for dark places and spiritual inertia were all waded up in his experience.    

By our silence we have left members of the family of faith to seek all their help from the medical and mental health community.  No thoughtful Christian would deny the important role these groups play in diagnosing and addressing the pain of depression.  It is also true that thoughtful Christians recognize the ministry to the miserable which can only be offered in a believing, caring community of saints.

I am not asking that we become experts in the subject of depression; only that we quit lying to ourselves and our fellow church members and offer the soul solace they need.  They may need us during the holidays more than any other time.

This post previously appeared as a column in the Daily Press.

 

The Big Question

The question most asked through the years has been: ‘’How do I know the will of God?’’ Little sense and much nonsense are tossed around in Christian communities about God’s will. Some treat God’s will as some grand mystery discovered by mystics while others prefer to demystify God’s will by reducing it outside forces controlling our lives.  Believers are left wondering if anyone knows how to know God’s will. 

How sad because God’s will can be known.  God’s will is found in the dovetailing of four things: (1) The principles of God’s Word, (2) The peace of God’s Spirit, (3) The people of God’s church and (4) The providence of God’s sovereignty.  However, any of these taken in isolation may make shipwreck of life. 

Obviously God is never going to contradict His Word and or direct us to do something in opposition to it.  Our problem comes when we are anxious to do a certain thing and tear through the pages of Scripture looking for any text that appears to support whatever we desire to do.  Treating the Bible like a spiritual Ouija Board never works.

Part of the Spirit’s fruitage is peace and if I am walking in the Spirit I should have peace.  My problem may come when I look in the mirror, have a conversation with myself and leave convinced I’ve talked with God.  Emotions are suspect guides in this wasteland we call life.  What I think is peace may be the impulse of my impetuous spirit.

God put us in a world of billions, a family of some size and His church so we do not have to figure everything out in a vacuum.  We don’t need countless counselors but we do need some who are spiritually mature and vested in our success. What we learn early is that if we go to certain people we will get certain advice!  If I want to be told to do a specific thing I have my heart set on then I just go to the “counselors” who will tell me to do that thing and conveniently avoid any others.

The principles, peace and people of God can be warped to my wishes and so can providence. Our nearsighted perspective prevents us from seeing the God factor in our quandaries.  I may look at a situation and sigh, “That will never happen!”  I may review circumstances and exclaim, “This is done deal!”  But what appear to be eternal barriers to something fall like dominoes and what present themselves as open doors slam at our Lord’s command.  The same God opening doors closes them.

If all these approaches to God’s will are fraught with failure where do we turn?  Remember, it’s in the dovetailing of all four.  When I prayerfully and submissively seek the God’s will in Scripture, surrender to the Spirit’s guidance generating peace, listen attentively to savvy, spiritual confidants and observe the providences of God about me I can say safely, “This is the will of God.”

This post previously appeared as a column in the Daily Press.

 

A Lifelong Learner

Labor Day has passed and school is back in session.  That is delightful news to some parents and pretty morbid talk for a lot of students.  Our educators and students deserve our prayers for another school year. Compulsory education law in Virginia dictates that a person attends school until age eighteen.  But what about those of us who passed that milestone a long way back down the road?  Do we continue to learn?  Some would say without any hesitation that they have learned far more from life since formal schooling ended than they ever learned in a classroom.  Many of us joke about the education received in the school of hard knocks.  Hopefully we are developing professionally and personally by continuing to absorb all the knowledge we can soak up. All of us should remain on the learning curve throughout life. 

What I am most concerned with here is our continued spiritual education.  Many of God’s saints are no longer God’s students. Peter demanded that we all “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3: 18 HCSB).  We will never outgrow God or become too enlightened for His Word. The Apostle Paul warns against pride of knowledge by reminding us, “If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not know it as he ought to know it” (1 Cor. 8: 2 HCSB).

There are at least three ways we should continue to learn about truths we have already been exposed to.  We should learn these truths more fully.  Can any of us honestly say we have exhausted any truth from the Word of God?  Gregory didn’t think so.  In the sixth century he observed that the Bible is like a river which is shallow enough for a lamb to wade in and yet deep enough for an elephant to swim in.  To change metaphors, Scripture is like a multifaceted diamond and must be turned slowly and deliberately to catch the varied ways light dances on it.  No matter how many times and no matter how many ways we look at a passage we have read countless times before new insights open before us.

We should learn truths more forcefully.  Not only do we need to learn truth more broadly, we also need to learn it more deeply.  We must not simply grasp truth; it must grip us. Our object is not to master truth but for truth to master us.  I don’t want to just study Scripture.  I want Scripture to study me.  I want it to bore to the core of who I am.  Only when it reaches that miraculous, mysterious division between soul and spirit does it reveal “the ideas and thoughts of the heart” (Heb. 4: 12 HCSB).

We should learn truth more faithfully.  Only when I put into practice what I have heard or read can I really claim to have learned it.  It is when truth permeates my person so profoundly that it naturally pours through my pores into practice that I may say I have begun to learn it.   

Are you a lifelong learner?

This post originally appeared in The Daily Press

Some Valleys I Have Visited

The same Creator who mounded up the majestic peaks from which we survey stunning vistas also scooped out the valley below.  Every seasoned traveler will spend many an hour soaking in the beauty only beheld atop some lofty summit but will also often feel stranded in some deep depression of life called a valley.  Are you in a valley right now?  Do the gigantic and steep grades around you throw long shadows over your trembling soul?  I’ve visited some valleys that many a weary pilgrim has left footprints, sweat, tears and even blood in.  Recognize any of these valleys?

I’ve visited the valley of tears.  The psalmist visited it as well.  “Happy are the people whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Baca (tears), they make it a source of springwater; even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings” (Ps. 84: 5-6).  According to this Hebrew hymnist the only route to the house of God in Jerusalem included the pilgrim’s path of pain.  The road to God’s abiding presence is often dampened by the hot, salty tears of the one who would see God.  Interestingly, the tearful leave a pool of blessing for the next struggling saints who reach that point.  In the valley of tears the seekers find help.

I’ve visited the valley of trouble.  Hosea spoke of that valley as the residence of adulterous Israel: “There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor (trouble) into a gateway of hope” (Hos. 2: 15).  The valley of trouble is where many straying sinners find themselves.  Life’s hard; it’s harder when you sin!  But even the sinner can find hope!  No one is a dope who turns to the doorway of hope in the valley.  In the valley of trouble the sinners can find hope.

I’ve visited the valley of threats.  David went there and faced Goliath (1 Sam. 17).  It was known as the Valley of Elah but threats thundered there from the bellowing giant Goliath.  At almost 10 feet, the Philistine champion shouted out threats that left the finest and fittest in Israel quivering like Jell-O®.  Young David, the shepherd turned solider, left his mark on history when he took down this mountain of a man in the valley.  I’ve heard the hair raising threats in the valley that make you feel like a whimpering little puppy but in the valley of threats you and all other soldiers can find heart.

I’ve visited the valley of terror.  David had been there and wrote about in Psalm 23.  It’s called “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23: 4).  When the long, languishing shadows of death fall across our soul, terror often takes possession of the mind, will and emotions and it ain’t pretty!  But in the valley of terror the struggler can find heaven.

Remember, there are no box canyons when you follow the Lord.  We pass through each valley and one day we’ll pass on to heavenly Mount Zion.

 

Scars Still Speak

The birth of the first of our five children was by far the most frightening.  The birth itself seemed pretty normal.  In those wee hours of the morning we knew nothing of the imminent danger lurking within his abdomen but as the sun rose that day we would be startled to discover he was born with an intestinal malrotation. In his case the duodenum was wrapped around the colon in a spiral like fashion constricting the blood flow to the lower abdomen.  Obviously this demanded urgent action. 

Everything happened so quickly!  I had gone home to get some much needed sleep when I was awakened by a phone call from my wife explaining what they had just reported to her.  By the time I reached the hospital, preparation was already being made to transfer our son to the finest pediatric facility in the state. He was airlifted from Ardmore, Oklahoma to Oklahoma Children’s Medical Center in Oklahoma City.  A friend and I followed by car.  When we arrived I was told that he needed surgery quickly to correct the problem as a barium swallow had confirmed the earlier diagnosis.  Within forty five minutes he was undergoing surgery as we sat and waited.  A Ladd’s Procedure would be performed in which the digestive system would be untangled and tacked down to prevent future problems.  The doctor returned from surgery unusually early.  When surgery is unexpectedly short or inordinately long you assume the worst.  Imagine my surprise when the doctor explained the malrotation was not there when they opened him up.

For the next ten days this excellent research hospital conducted every test imaginable on his infant body without finding any explanation of his presenting symptoms.  Finally, in a meeting with one of the surgeons I asked, “Is there any explanation for the discrepancy between the barium swallow you did and the absence of the malrotation forty five minutes later in the operating room?”  He responded by saying he had been thinking about that ever since the surgery and could not come up with one.  I then asked if we could chalk this one up to the miraculous.  “If he never has another problem I would be willing to do that.”  I’m not sure if the surgical team ever knew that people in seven states were praying for him at the time of his surgery.

We were told at that time that the surgical scar would disappear with time and when he was older no one would ever notice it.  The scar is still there and plainly visible to all.  Through the years each time he has visited a new physician or peeled off his shirt in a locker room the scar has proven an opportunity to testify to the goodness of God in healing him.  Scars can be poignant reminders of the past.  

As this column goes to print our son is celebrating his thirty second birthday and we rejoice that the scar still speaks of the power of a miracle working God!

 

Change We Can Believe In

Karl Marx, the Father of Marxist philosophy, died in 1833 and was buried in London’s Highgate cemetery.  In 1954 the Communist Party of Great Britain had the present tombstone erected at his grave featuring a bust of the deceased leader.  Etched into the stone of the marker are these familiar words of Marx, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.’’

Without a doubt, Marx changed the world.  At one point of the twentieth century about twenty four nations were ruled by the communist doctrine Marx propagated.  He changed the world politically and economically.  Marx certainly hasn’t been the only world changer.

Charles Darwin changed the world scientifically and philosophically with the 1859 debut of his Origin of the Species.  Albert Einstein changed the world technologically and even militarily with the development of his Theory of Relativity.  Alexander Graham Bell changed the world communicationally with the introduction of the telephone in 1876.  Orville and Wilbur, the Wright Brothers, changed the world transportationally with a short twelve second flight in 1903.  More recently Steve Jobs and Bill Gates changed the world technologically with advances in both hardware and software.

Most would agree the world needs changing.  Terrorist bombings, school shootings, rampant abortion, endless wars, human trafficking and a host of other ills serve as almost daily reminders of just how much the world needs changing.

Many have changed the world in positive and not so positive ways.  Those who faithfully follow Jesus are destined to be world changers as well. Jesus told us that we have no alternative but to change the world.  ‘’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of  the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you’’ (Matt. 28: 18-19 HCSB).

We who are Christians are a changed people who are to be changing the world for Christ.  A serious and yet complimentary charge was leveled against Paul and Silas, ‘’These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too’’ was the allegation registered by the Thessalonians (Acts 17: 6 HCSB). Truth is that Paul and his associates were turning the world right side up rather than upside down.   The change we witness in someone’s life when they come to Christ is real to the bone.  ‘’Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come’’ (2 Cor. 5: 17 HCSB).

Real world changers change the world by getting people ready for the next world.  Others may have changed the world politically, economically, scientifically, technologically, communicationally or transportationally but we can change the world eternally.  Now that’s change we can believe in!

This post originally appeared as a column in The Daily Press

Today Is Valentine’s Day

This is it!  Today is the day when we male members of the species attempt to atone for all our unromantic foolishness throughout the rest of the year.  Today is our grand opportunity to demonstrate we are not all self seeking, couch hugging, chip munching, sports obsessing slugs without a solitary romantic cell in our over-fed and under-disciplined bodies.  Yes, Valentine’s Day was created for male cavemen to rebound romantically.

Even in a crummy economy, Americans are expected to spend $18.6 billion on Valentine’s Day this year.  $1.6 billion will be spent on candy, $1.9 billion on flowers but the top prize goes to jewelry which accounts for $4.4 billion.  That doesn’t really surprise me since my wife’s love language is receiving gifts and her dialect is jewelry!  She subscribes to the theory that you can never have too much jewelry!

While sweet chocolates, soft roses and lots of bling always seem to be lady pleasers, there are often bonus points for creativity.  When it is obvious that we have rubbed more than two brain cells together to make February 14 all about her, she will generally respond enthusiastically.

 On more than one occasion I have broken the mold on Valentine’s Day and planned something totally unexpected.  One year I surprised my wife by transforming our living room into an intimate dining experience complete with black cloth and special lighting along with a meal I prepped myself.  Another year, my wife was flying back in on Valentine’s Day from providing care for my mother who was recovering from a serious automobile accident.  Unknown to her, I packed a bag with her most elegant dress and secured a room at an upscale airport hotel for the evening.  I arrived early enough to decorate the room prior to our arrival.

A freak ice storm just about spelled doom for one Valentine’s Day surprise.  I had planned for months to convert our garage into a Hawaiian beach including sand and a palm tree but when it appeared my wife would not be able to go to work and permit me to put everything in place for our winter luau I thought I was as cooked as a kalua pig!  Fortunately, a kind neighbor with a four wheel drive was able to transport her to work and allow me to go to work; albeit in the warmer confines of our Florida Room.  With a little imagination and a lot of decorating we drifted away to Waikiki for a couple of hours despite six inches of ice just outside the room.

Am I some kind of romantic genius?  Far from it!  I was the most pathetic excuse for a romantic when we married.  I was so incredibly pitiful that I proposed at McDonalds!  True story and it wasn’t even a good proposal at McDonalds!

My point, men, is that any of us can learn the heart and art of romance!  These precious ladies God has graciously given to us deserve no less February 14 and 364 other days of the year as well!

 

This post originally appeared as a column in The Daily Press on Valentine's Day 2013.

A Brush with Death

One month ago I suffered a heart attack.  I had a ninety percent blockage in the Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery – the infamous “widow maker.” At fifty-five and thinking I was in the best health I had been in for years I was shocked.  Kudos to the excellent emergency room staff in Gloucester as well as the medical professionals in Newport News who responded quickly and effectively to protect me from even more serious injury; they were the best.

Life suddenly came to a screeching halt and my perspectives changed concerning everything.  Not only was I unprepared for the heart attack and my two stents; I was also unprepared for the thoughts and feelings which followed.  I became more acquainted with fear and panic than I thought possible.  God has been faithful throughout the entire ordeal to show He is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble (Ps. 46: 1).

 A brush with death can certainly prompt a reevaluation of many life priorities.  Foods that were “must haves” just weeks ago seem less appetizing these days as I adjust to a more heart healthy diet.  The exercise I was too busy to schedule now has top billing.  The biggest changes, though, are the internal ones.

 I have a new sense of empathy for others who are suffering physically or struggling emotionally.  Empathy is one of those things you think you have but don’t possess because you have not yet walked a mile in the other person’s shoes.  I always wanted to be empathetic with hurting people as their pastor but only experience qualifies you to show empathy.  How much has my empathy quotient risen?  Well, the other day I found myself feeling sorry for the cat struggling with a hairball!

 I am much more aware of my mortality.  A keen sense of how fragile our lives really are burns into our soul the raw realism that none of us are as indispensible as we may think we are.  Teach us to number our days carefully, so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts (Ps. 90: 12).

 The urgency of the gospel is much more focused following my brush with death.  Puritan Richard Baxter famously journaled, "I preached as never sure to preach again and as a dying man to dying men." No saint seeking souls is guaranteed tomorrow to do the work of an evangelist.  It may literally be now or never for any of us when we share time with those who do not yet know our Christ.  What’s more, the person reading this column who has not come to Christ for salvation is assured only this moment to turn from sin and trust Christ for the forgiveness of sin now and the promise of heaven forever.

 Life is uncertain but eternity need not be!  When we do more than brush death we can do so confident that we shall live forever with our precious Lord in His heaven.

 

This post originally appeared in the Daily Press.

Discipline

 I awakened Monday morning to the news that cycling legend Lance Armstrong has been stripped of all seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life.  It is one of the most stunning disciplines ever handed down by anybody in the world of sport.  Some, including Armstrong himself, may quibble with the allegations or the discipline meted out by the agency but the story is a powerful reminder to everyone that they must play by the rules.

The same principle may be found in the Word of God.  Paul was quite conspicuously a sports enthusiast and frequently wove sports metaphors into is writing.  This was particularly true in writing to the Corinthian church because the isthmus of Corinth was the scene of the famous Isthmian games.  The competition included horse, foot, and chariot-racing; wrestling, and boxing. The prize was a garland of pine leaves. Two sports images are played by Paul in First Corinthians 9 to stress the self discipline the Christian athlete must impose upon himself if he or she is to compete successfully in the spiritual arena of life.

The Apostle/Sportsman runs out with the language of thee runner to reinforce his point about competing appropriately.  “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly” (1 Corinthians 9: 24-26 NIV).

Paul takes a picture from the world of boxing and gets in a nice jab for the importance of self discipline in the Christian life.  “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9: 27 NIV).

Lance Armstrong is a warning to everyone competing in the race of life that no matter how successful you appear to be and what others feel you have accomplished there remain humiliating penalties for breaking the rules.  Armstrong drew a major following even among those who have no real interest in cycling because of the feel good story of his victory over cancer that started in his testicles and spread to his lungs and brain.  Nevertheless one cannot rely on past success to guarantee victory today or tomorrow.

Discipline and determination are vital parts of the discipleship process in all our lives.

This post originally appeared in the Daily Press.