Depression or be depressed for the right reason!
1 Kings 19:4 (KJV) 4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
Have you ever been depressed? If you tell me you have never been depressed then the truth is not in you. Part of what makes you and I what we are is the ability to feel extreme emotions. We can feel great joy or great sorrow, great love or great hatred, great expectation, great depression, great happiness or great sadness. These extremes make up in us the ability to feel. Read the story of Elijah's bout with depression in 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19. Here Elijah goes from being hated to loved to persecuted all for following God first in his life. He finally reaches a point where he feels he can no longer go on and wants to die. He lays down under a tree and asks God to take his life. The answer he got was not the one he expected. Read the story and see how wonderfully our Lord handles Elijah's bout with depression. I would like to say "I just do not understand Elijah! How could he walk with God one minute, then the next run away like a scared rabbit?" But, I can understand, you see my friends I have been there. I have gone through those times of walking with the Lord and accomplishing great things and then had old slue foot go for my throat! God has had to come to me in that still small voice and reassure me.
Let me give you a personal example from a couple years ago. We buried a dear friend of ours. Lupe, was 76 years old and a great Christian. Lupe loved Jesus with all her heart and soul. This is not one of those easy duties that a pastor has. For me to work on a funeral of a dear Christian is a great joy. I know where that person is. They are no longer suffering, they are in the arms of Jesus. Lupe's final words were " I see Him! He is so beautiful." Lupe was seeing into her new home as she was letting go of her old home. It always brings a mixture of sadness and joy to do a funeral of a fellow Christian. Joy because they are home, sadness because we miss them, but will see them soon.
I must be truthful though; the funerals of those that did not accept Jesus always bring me sadness and depression. Why, because they are not in heaven, but in a much more painful place. As one preacher used to say, "I don't care if you believe in hell or not. God does and you're going if you don't accept Jesus." You just cannot get up at a funeral and preach " I am sorry aunt Millie is in hell suffering terribly at this moment, how about you, is that where you want to go?" You have to love them into the kingdom. Whoa! What did this old pastor say? Yes, there are times that only the love of Christ can get them to head toward the door of salvation. But, then we must follow through and we must give them the whole gospel, including the need to repent and change their lives.
Ok, back to today's teaching. No matter how harsh it may sound, the bottom line is, that aunt Millie is in hell and is suffering if she did not accept Jesus. That is what depresses me. Could we, should we, have preached to aunt Millie more, loved her more, been Jesus to her more. Was there some way we could have reached aunt Millie for Jesus and didn't. These are questions that should have been asked long before someone dies. Once they are dead and gone it is too late. Their fate is sealed and cannot be changed. Read the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16 verse 19 through 31. For us the key verses are 22 and 24. Luke 16:22-25 (KJV)22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Notice that Lazarus died and was immediately in heaven with Abraham in comfort and joy. Also notice that the rich man died and was buried and woke up in hell. There was no period of waiting. They were not just in the grave until judgement day. They immediately went to their respective eternities Lazarus to heaven and eternal love, peace and joy, the rich man to hell and eternal torment and pain.
I will let Mary recount a true story on why we need to tell others of Christ before it is to0 late. "To fully appreciate the difference in the death of a believer and an unbeliever I will recount the story of Imogene, and praise the Lord it had a happy ending. Imo was an unbeliever, she was alone in the nursing home, and never had a visitor that I could remember. She had one son, her only family member. One day Imo received the awful news that her son had passed away. She immediately began mourning and refused to eat or drink. After days of trying to coax her to take some water the nursing staff decided to hydrate her with an IV. Three weeks later having starved herself Imo was at death's door. The senior nurse on staff came to me and told me that Imo had all the physical signs of impending death and that she was "dying hard." This was a common term used in the facility, which meant she wasn't passing away peacefully. The nurse asked me if I would mind sitting with Imo. I asked the nurse who was also a Christian if Imo would know I was there. She assured me that Imo would be aware of my presence. In talking with the nurse I found out that Imo's chart listed her as a Jehovah's Witness. I went to Imo's room and found her wailing and careening it was such an awful helpless sound. I walked over to her bedside and touched her, immediately she grabbed my arm and dug in her fingernails for dear life. She was thrashing around and sweating profusely. I started to speak to her all the words of comfort I knew in an effort to soothe her. My twin daughters were there at the nursing home that day, and I had them come into the room and sing hymns with me. These girls have the gift of music in them and could harmonize like angels. Imo just wailed even louder as we sang to her. Finally, I could think of nothing else but to try to introduce her to Jesus. I leaned over her and asked her "Imo, are you afraid to die?" She wailed a mournful "Yes." I held her hand and asked her if she knew Jesus Christ as her Savior, explaining the plan of salvation to her very clearly, she stopped wailing to listen to me. She was very cognitive and understood everything I was saying, because she would nod her head and speak as I was talking. I told her that she didn't want to die without Jesus because she would go to hell, and she started crying and nodding her head yes. I then asked her if she would like to ask Jesus into her heart, she nodded yes. As she did this I held her hand and encouraged her to repent of her sin and ask Jesus to be her Savior, and as she did I cried like a baby. Immediately upon asking Jesus into her heart there was a distinctive change in Imo, she stopped thrashing and wailing and she lay there quietly and peacefully. An hour later I went home. Later on that evening the same nurse called me and told me Imo had passed on peacefully. No one will ever be able to convince me that there is no after life, or especially no Heaven or Hell. Both are very real places and it makes sense knowing where you are going. And in the light of that it makes sense to make sure you take as many people to Heaven with you as you can during your time on earth. " Mary and I had taken care of Imo for months before this happened. We had already been Jesus to her. She could see the difference in us even though the time had not presented itself to tell her the reason for the difference. When the time came if it had not been for Mary being willing to try to reach Imo she would have been just like Aunt Millie in my example above. Imo would have continued to fight death because like Lupe she had seen her final resting place and was terrified. But, just like Lupe she now knew that her new home was going to be grand and glorious. Just like Lupe who knew the Lord Imo died peacefully. Because a worker for Christ took the time to share her love for Jesus.
Jesus said Matthew 7:13 (NLT) 13"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. Think about it how many people do you know that are on that wide and easy road to hell. Have you told them about Jesus? We never know when our number is up and we will go to the grave. Will they go to the grave with a deep peace, because you told them about your Jesus and what He did for you, or will they die screaming and yelling because they see what is ahead for them because no one ever gave them the chance to know of Jesus as their personal Savior? A funeral is a bad place to be thinking I should have told them about Jesus. It is too late by then. At a funeral I only attended, the church member was supposed to have known Christ. Yet, she died in a drunken stupor, drowning on her own vomit way before she should have. Where do you think she woke up. I do not think it was in a very pleasant place. This woman was an irregular church attendee at one of the remote churches I pastured at. That church was 3 1/2 hours drive from our home. I thought I did what I could to reach her when I was there. Maybe I did not do enough. Maybe, I am the one who should have done more. I will not know until Jesus and I meet face to face. Depressing for a pastor! But, did her fellow church members go that extra mile, to help her truly come to Christ. She had a false conversion from what this pastor could see and it did not appear that the members of the congregation looked at her fruits and tried to bring her truly to Christ. One of the congregation even went so far as to tell me she had a vision of the deceased dancing in heaven with Jesus after her death. Did anyone wonder, " How could she have a personal relationship with Jesus, if she was still living a life of evil and debauchery, that could end in a death such as this?" Did anyone ask "did we do our job as workers?" Not that I am aware of, they just went on. Things like this are what causes depression in a pastor. We cannot do it all my friends! We need your help! "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. One of the members confided in me later after I have left my work at the church, that the church had several new members but no one had ever asked if they had even accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. Depressing for a pastor!
Each day we run into many people, each day we see many people whom we are not good friends with, but have a casual relationship with. Who am I talking about, the girl at the check out stand at the grocery store, the gentleman who delivers you mail, the person you pass each day and say hi to at the office. I could go on and on. I know that each day I will cross the paths of 10 to 30 people. Some I see two to three times a week. I know them well enough to tell them about my Jesus. No, I do not preach to them, I do not Bible thump to show I am better! I treat them differently with love and respect and then they want to know why I am different. That opens the door to let them know that it is Jesus that makes the difference in our lives and why they need to change their lives through Jesus.
Do you want to feel depression, of course not, but think about being at the final judgement day when all is said and done we will stand before Jesus and all we have done will be revealed. How many names will come up that the Lord sent your way to tell about Jesus and you didn't? I know our sins are covered by the blood. But, I can't help wondering about judgement day and all those lost opportunities. I can't help wondering about how many times we, yes we, I include myself in this group, have let Jesus down. Please, Please, do not ever think someone else will do the job for you. Do not ever think that they will have time to hear the gospel. Do not listen to the garbage that we are only one link in the chain. We do not know Gods timing that person could die the moment after you see them. You could have crossed their paths only long enough to give them the final chance to accept Jesus. When describing the end days to His disciples Jesus told them in Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come." Jesus did not say it would convict or save, it was going to be preached as a testimony, a witness, and a declaration that the only way to heaven was Jesus. You do not need to be a great orator you just need to be a witness for Jesus.
In our lifetime how many people has our Lord and Savior brought into our lives only to have us let them pass by? Jesus said Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT) 37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields." Jesus knew what we were like. That was the reason he told us to pray for workers. My friends if we can be nothing else for Jesus we need to be simple workers telling every one who will listen what great things the Lord has done for us. This is the reason every time Mary and I see an ambulance speeding off we pray that the Lord send a worker to the persons side if they do not know Jesus.
Let's get a resolve to do the Father's will every day of our lives and never let another pass us by without telling them what Jesus has done for us. Remember you may be their last chance to hear the gospel. The Lord is calling those who will be 100% for Him. Are you ready to answer that call?
