By Josh Weidmann on Friday, February 22, 2008 1:38 AM

and I thought I had a bad day.

I bet he never lived this down.

By Josh Weidmann on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 3:12 PM

Though it is not something I am proud of, I have to admit that last Friday was one of the hardest days I’ve had in a long time. The number of sermons yet to be prepared and preached were overwhelming to me. The shambles my personal life seemed to be in added to the pain. I was just trying to hold together the fragments of my fragile life, yet all the mental game efforts seemed pointless. The weight of the world felt as if it was there on top of me in my bed and there was nothing I could do to get out from under it… yet alone get up and start the day.

 

As I lay there in a self-induced acoma – somewhere to between awake and unconscious – I thought, “could I be depressed?”

 

I do understand the severity of depression that some people can face, and I knew I was far from that. But I still couldn’t help but wonder if the last few weeks of a downcast soul had culminated in a (slightly) depressed state that required more help than I could give myself.

 

I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I knew medicine wasn’t even an option. I just knew something had to be done and it had to be something outside of my own self-talk or optimism. It was then that I turned to the Bible for comfort. As always, the Holy Spirit combined with the power of the written Word and my soul found its rest in the clef of our Savior’s hand. Here are the passages I found:

 

Psalm 42:5 – 7

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;

All your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

 

Nahum 1:7

The Lord is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble;

he knows those who take refuge in him.

 

Joel 2:12 – 13

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; render your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

 

So, I pray you too will get through those gloomy days and seek Christ our comforter with your whole heart.

 

Press on!

By Josh Weidmann on Thursday, February 07, 2008 11:23 AM

I once heard it said that “The greatest gift you can give the world is your own intimacy with Christ.”

Yet all too often we think that we can leave a mark on this world by our own efforts. Thought we may not admit it to anyone else, including ourselves, we all too often are falsely confident in our own talents and gifts. We’ve bought into the lies of our own hearts that we can do it ourselves and that dependence is a weakness and independence is strength.

The truth is, if we are going to leave a mark on the world, then we must rely on Christ. In God’s economy dependence is seen as strength. Think of the ways that we’ll be able to revolutionize the world as we know it if we are living tapped into the same power that raise Christ from the dead.

This kind of dependence demands faith - the kind of faith that throws all inhibitions to the curb. There is no time for hesitation or even contemplation when it comes to Christ calling us to Himself. When we hear the call of our Savior for a deeper intimacy with Him, we must grab every ounce of faith we have in our hearts and head for the cross.

Practically, this means a life of disciplined and calculated actions that intentionally will drive our dependence deeper. Things such as longer prayer times, more time in the scripture, meditation on the greatness of God and the goodness in his gifts, and other disciplines, will grow our fraction-of-a-mustard-seed faith. When we pursue a deeper faith we will become more dependent upon Christ. In turn our impact on the world will increase because we are focusing more the one who gave the mission than the mission itself.

Simple concept yet something that we seem to miss far too often; relying on Christ requires faith.