One of my favorite conference moments to date has been an interaction
between John MacArthur and John Piper. The details are a bit hazy, but
if memory serves me correct, they were participating in a panel
discussion and the moderator asked them about depression. Piper
described some of the darkest hours of his life and ministry, saying
that for a long period of time—months or years—he wept every day. Then
it was MacArthur’s turn to speak and he said, “I’ve never been depressed
for a day in my life.” It was a practical statement, I think, devoid of
any kind of judgment. It was simply the truth. I may not remember it
perfectly, but it happened something like that. And it set in stark
contrast how two men, both used mightily by the Lord, can have such
different experiences and such different dispositions.
Christians get depressed too. This statement may seem a wee bit trite,
but it’s an important message and one Christians need to hear. Too many
people have been taught that Christians—true Christians, good
Christians, real Christians—don’t get depressed or that depression is
always the outworking of serious sin. This heaps guilt and anguish upon
those who are already suffering mental or emotional pain. Is my
depression a result of a sin I’ve committed against God? Is there a sin I
need to confess to make it all go away? Am I even a Christian? With the
anguish comes stigma so that those who suffer so often suffer in
silence, afraid and ashamed to admit what they are going through. Many
Christians sympathize with physical pain but roll their eyes at
emotional pain. Keep Reading...
The panel discussion Tim Challies is talking about is:
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