mgpcpastor's blog

I’ve had August’s Briefing for a couple of weeks.
‘The Bible On The Blues’ is the cover article and Paul Grimmond tackles the amazingly difficult job of making ‘Some biblical reflections on depression and anxiety’.
The complexity of the subject is compounded by the fact that depressive situations arise from both biological and environmental causes. (Sometimes both)
His point about a response for either cause needing to be grounded in the Gospel is important. For a Christian, life following Jesus as Saviour and Lord cannot be divorced from their treatment of depressive situations.
Grimmond identifies a sense of guilt and failure as being widely experienced by those who suffer depression and anxiety (D&A). Forgiveness is helpful is dealing with these emotions. Furthermore, a solid grounding in God’s acceptance of the Christian in Christ is the ground for a realistic self-perception. The freedome Christians have in the Gospel is also another key dynamic.
I remember listening to Archibald Hart in Melbourne one day lecture that depression is an emotion triggered by loss. (Hart also recognised clinical conditions which increased susceptibility to depression.)
In Hart’s thesis (as I recall) the emotional feeling of depression is meant to cause the mind to realise something has been lost, to identify it, adjust to it, and then be able to move forward. Importantly, this emotion is not a product of the fall, it is something with which we were created. Its disfunction is an aspect of the fall, but so are the other disfunctions of our emotions. Our aim is not to do away with other emotions, it is to bring them to a fruitful expression in Christian freedom. So it should be with depression.
This has been immensely helpful to me on a personal level.
In addition Ben Underwood writes on Sloth. In an age of phenomenal busyness, who has time for sloth? Perhaps sloth is not doing nothing, but is failing to do what should be done. Jesus is the one who accepts the penalty for that which we should have done and also frees us to do that which we were created and redeemed to do.
Rob Smith concludes a two part series on God’s glory. Christ is both the One Who is glorified, and who shares His glory with His own. There is even more glory to come and the Christian shall share in that as well. We pursue God’s glory, not our own, and seek to see glory given to Him alone.
Having reviewed Memoirs Of An Ordinary Pastor on this blog, I was interested to read Alan Lukabyo’s comments.
I thought his comment was very perceptive that author Don Carson was too protective of his father, Tom, the subject of the book. The information which Carson provides is sufficient for the reader to realise that the older Carson was unnecessarily hard and demanding on himself and was prone to overly negative assessments of his labours. This does reveal the younger Carson’s love for his father, but also his care for those who labour in pastoral ministry. There are those who might probably think of themselves in similar terms to those of the older Carson and they need to lovingly hear that such self-accusation can sometimes be very destructive of ministry rather than being constructive.
It’s also good to see that the Briefing are publishing abbreviated copies of articles published in past copies of the magazine in the form of Mini-zines which can be purchased in bulk for wider circulation. Initial editions feature ‘Purity in an Age of Porn’ and ‘Help for a Sick Prayer Life’. Very useful.
Helpful stuff all round.