After spending 40 years in church ministries, this writer faced his first case of clinical depression. I puzzled over it for some time, perplexed by teaching my friend God’s Word: how could Gospel truth penetrate his mind? We finally created a joke about it. “Where did that knothole go, brother? RIGHT INTO YOUR BRAIN!” Then we’d laugh and try again. Consider four lessons I learned from my friend Parker.
One, mental and emotional conditions can limit the effectiveness of God’s Word, but they cannot eliminate that effectiveness. Even Parker, after doubting as I taught, lost his doubts when he prayed. The Holy Spirit’s insights into his condition reached him where the vessel of clay failed. Two, if we have questions, perplexities OR doubts—any problem relating to God in Christ:
I would look at Parker’s Bible—marked with comments, as I’m in the habit of doing. Well read in Scripture, he didn’t allow his personal shortcomings to prevent reading his Bible—as many with his condition do. Three, we can ignore or delay implementing God’s Presence in our life:
For, ignoring him while we occupy ourselves with our projects and goals won’t eliminate God. HE’S OUT THERE, beyond this life, awaiting each of us. He didn’t ask our permission to exist, and our refusal to think about him won’t keep him from BEING THERE, at our last breath. Four, prepare ahead for your rendezvous with God. That eliminates last-minute repentance. It became clear in the last weeks that Parker would die. He feared talking to his wife Millie about it. I had her to come in the room and asked if she had given thought to Parker’s death. To his relief, she had…and would prefer his death to his continued suffering. THEN, as I looked at her, huge tears formed in and dropped from her eyes—and I knew what it cost her to say that. That’s where Millie taught me a lesson: love willingly accepts pain if it benefits a loved one. Love is like that. In summary, I baptized both of them—in their bathtub, no less, immersing them for the forgiveness of their sins. Honestly, it meant more to Parker to have her baptized, but that’s another story….
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