Counseling and Medication

Rick Thomas has some thoughts on the benefits of medication.

By the time I met with Melanie, she was objectively affected physically because of her unattended spiritual issues. Fortunately, she was a humble lady, who wanted to be taught God’s Word in such a way that she could apply it to her life. The medication was useful in the sense that it “stopped the bleeding” so to speak, in order to get her to a place where she could be helped.

The meds functioned sort of like the way a cast does for a broken leg. The cast is not a long-term solution, but there is some usefulness in a cast. If Melanie believed the cast was the cure, then it would have been problematic. If the doctor had said the cast was the cure then that, too, would have been problematic.

Fortunately for Melanie, she was willing to listen and learn. It would not have been wise to try to wrestle the “cast” from her or put her down for using a “cast.” I focused on the problem and God graciously freed her from these underlying issues that were the real problem.

One Step at a Time

Ed Welch shares Hope for the Depressed:

Take one small step at a time. Granted, it seems impossible. How can you live without feelings? Without them you have no drive, no motivation. Could you imagine walking without any feeling in your legs? It would be impossible. Or would it? Perhaps you could walk if you practiced in front of a large mirror and watched your legs moving. One step, wobble, another step. It would all be very mechanical but it could be done.

People have learned to take one step at a time in the midst of depression. It doesn’t seem natural, though other people won’t notice either the awkwardness or the heroism involved. The trek begins with one step, then another. Remember, you are not alone. Many people have taken this journey ahead of you.

As you walk, you will find that you must tap into every resource you have ever learned about persevering through hardship. It will involve lots of moment by moment choices: take one minute at a time, read one short Bible passage, ask for help, try to care about someone else, move outside yourself, ask someone how they are doing, and so on.

When in doubt, confess your unbelief, trust in Jesus, and look for someone to love. A wise depressed person once said, “The reason I get up—after years of depression—is that I want to love one other person.”

Haiti Earthquake Relief

In response to the Haiti earthquake, there are many opportunities to donate and help. Over the years, as needs like this arise, I have given to FAIR (Fellowship Agency for International Relief). One of the things I like about them is that they partner with organizations that are already involved in the area. In Haiti they are partnering with Emmanuel International to distribute aid through local churches. Bonus: Until February 12th, every dollar given through FAIR will be matched by the Canadian government.

Update: David Daniels provides a recommendation for Emmanuel International.

Why Missions?

Claude Hickman gives 14 Reasons for Missions.

Calvin on Church Finances

Darryl Dash offers some quotes from John Calvin's Institutes on the subject of Church Finances, including this line: "Remember that you are not handling your own property, but that destined for the necessities of the poor."

See also Ray Mayhew, Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin of Contemporary Christianity? (pdf). I've mentioned the article several times in the past, but it's worth linking to again.

Business for God's Glory

In The Kingdom Work of the Corporate World, Richard Dorster issues a challenge:

Christian artists add beauty and complexity to God’s creation, transforming the raw materials of paint, language, and sound into finished products that proclaim God’s glory.

Where are their business counterparts — the entrepreneurs and corporate executives who, with the same passion, reshape the world through business? And who, intentionally and for the sake of God’s glory, manage the power of free markets to make the world more productive? Where are the Christians who are propelling the world’s best corporations?

God’s people can, as agents of His redemptive plan, transform business, stripping it of selfish ambition and pursuing instead what’s best for their neighbors. Through business, God’s people can harness mankind’s creativity, and with it nurture His creation, developing products that make the world more satisfying. Through the economic power of commerce, Christians can make the world safer and healthier. The members of Christ’s Church, distributed in offices around the world, can transform greed into good stewardship, showing the world that business has a biblical responsibility to create new wealth and provide a fair return to investors (Matthew 25:14-28). But, with an eye toward the consummation of Christ’s kingdom, we also create wealth in order to create new and satisfying jobs, which offer the hope (and perhaps a glimpse) of a coming world where there is no poverty.

God has placed His people in business so that they can — in humility, and making full use of the talents and resources He’s given — serve customers, employees, suppliers, and the world at large, looking out for the interests of others and providing for their needs.

On their deathbeds, many Christians will regret that they didn’t love their neighbors, care for the poor, or advance Christ’s kingdom as they should have. They might therefore, with their final breath, gasp: “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”

The Body

Charles Colson on how the church functions as the church:

It is within the church particular [a local body of believers] that we commit ourselves to intimate relationships with fellow believers and submit ourselves to accountability, duties, and responsibilities. In this community our Christian character is shaped; it is the context in which our gifts are developed and exercised. It is the family whose ties cannot be broken. It is the training camp that disciples and equips believers to be God’s people against the world and for the world. If we don’t grasp the intrinsically corporate nature of Christianity embodied in the church, we are missing the very heart of Jesus’ plan (The Body, p. 277).

The Gospel and Our Vocations

Another excerpt from The Gospel Coalition's "Theological Vision for Ministry" is this statement of how the gospel affects our work:

The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2; Psalm 104:30). Therefore Christians glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through their vocations of agriculture, art, business, government, scholarship—all for God’s glory and the furtherance of the public good. Too many Christians have learned to seal off their faith–beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The gospel is seen as a means of finding individual peace and not as the foundation of a worldview—a comprehensive interpretation of reality affecting all that we do. But we have a vision for a church that equips its people to think out the implications of the gospel on how we do carpentry, plumbing, data–entry, nursing, art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Such a church will not only support Christians’ engagement with culture, but will also help them work with distinctiveness, excellence, and accountability in their trades and professions. Developing humane yet creative and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel is part of the work of bringing a measure of healing to God’s creation in the power of the Spirit. Bringing Christian joy, hope, and truth to embodiment in the arts is also part of this work. We do all of this because the gospel of God leads us to it, even while we recognize that the ultimate restoration of all things awaits the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the Common Good

From the Gospel Coalition's "Theological Vision for Ministry" on how we should relate to the culture around us:

It is not enough that the church should counter the values of the dominant culture. We must be a counter–culture for the common good. We want to be radically distinct from the culture around us and yet, out of that distinct identity, we should sacrificially serve neighbors and even enemies, working for the flourishing of people, both here and now, and in eternity. We therefore do not see our corporate worship services as the primary connecting point with those outside. Rather, we expect to meet our neighbors as we work for their peace, security, and well–being, loving them in word and deed. If we do this we will be “salt” and “light” in the world (sustaining and improving living conditions, showing the world the glory of God by our patterns of living; Matt 5:13–16). As the Jewish exiles were called to love and work for the shalom of Babylon (Jer 29:7), Christians too are God’s people “in exile” (1 Peter 1:1; James 1:1). The citizens of God’s city should be the best possible citizens of their earthly city (Jer 29:4–7). We are neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic about our cultural influence, for we know that, as we walk in the steps of the One who laid down his life for his opponents, we will receive persecution even while having social impact (1 Peter 2:12).

Changed by Their Pain

Dustin Shramek, in his chapter "Waiting for the Morning during the Long Night of Weeping," describes what he and his wife experienced after their son died, and how others' responses revealed a lack of understanding of the depth of their pain:

We struggled with anger toward God, wondering why he didn't comfort us. We had prayed; indeed, people literally all over the world had prayed for the life of our son, but God chose a different path for us. So why wouldn't he comfort us on this path?

Many people said things to us like, "Look to Jesus! Trust in his promises. He does care for you. You need to get in the Word and pray and fight for your joy. You need to talk with others about this and have them pray for you." We knew that this is true and right; yet, when we were overwhelmed with grief, it felt hollow and unhelpful. We needed to know that they too had been changed by our pain; that, in some sense, it was also their pain.

We don't love others in the midst of this kind of pain by pretending that it isn't all that bad or by trying to quickly fix it with some pat theological answers. We love them by first weeping with them. It is when we enter into their pain and are ourselves changed by it that we can speak the truth in love. When their pain becomes our pain ... we are able to give the encouragement of the Scriptures (John Piper and Justin Taylor, eds., Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p. 177).