Feeling Depressed?

Do you feel sad? Depressed? Lonely? Discouraged? Down in the dumps? That is a horrible feeling, and often times these feelings get us down and defeat us before we ever know what hit us. Worst of all, these feelings will often prevent us from approaching our Lord.

But there is good news, these feelings are just that...feelings! Feelings change, feelings are not permanent, feelings so often depend on...well, us.

The reality is, for those of us that believe in Jesus Christ, that we should NEVER be sad, depressed or discouraged. Check out this passage from Ephesians 1:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,* having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this* is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. 15 -->

Wow...how can anyone read this passage and be depressed? Lets break it down a little:

• In verse 3 Paul starts by telling us that Christ blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Hear that, every spiritual blessing. Jesus holds nothing back from us. And these blessings are not temporary earthly blessings, these are permanent, spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. What a blessing!





• Verse 4 tells us that were were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. Jesus choose us before the foundations of the world!! While we were still sinners, while we were still unworthy Jesus choose us and justified us before Him in love.





• Verse 5 continues this though by telling us that we are destined for adoption. Do you fully grasp that? We have been adopted! We are children of God, we are brothers and sisters with Jesus Christ!! And why did Jesus do this, Paul simply states that He did it according to His good pleasure to the praise of His glorious grace. Thats right...he did it just because. He did it because it gave God pleasure to adopt us. He did it because he loves us.





• Verse 6 continues this though by saying that this grace and Love of God is freely given, freely bestowed in the Beloved (aka Jesus Christ). What a gracious, and generous and abundant God!





• Verse 7 assures us that we have redemption and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. And Paul demonstrates the value of this gift by stating that we receive it through the "riches" of His grace, and that it is lavished upon us. Think about that adjective "lavished", how often do we use that word day to day? Not often, because it really signifies great worth, great expense, great value. Paul uses that word here to describe the riches of God's grace towards us!!





• If that isn't enough, in verse 9 we are told that God has made known to man the mystery of His Will according to His good pleasure. How awesome is that? Not only are we adopted, not only are we redeemed, not only do we gain and inheritance, but God also shares with us the mystery of His Will: that through Jesus Christ one day all things will come together.





• Finally, in vv 14-15 we are told that through the Holy Spirit we are marked and sealed as a pledge of this inheritance. That right, once you have accepted Jesus Christ we are sealed with Holy Spirit as a pledge. We are His, He cannot lose us. Once day, we will be called home and the guarantee of the the Spirit is that we will spend eternity in paradise with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

So how do you feel now? Ephesians 1 is quite possibly my favorite chapter in the Bible. What a wonderful, loving, and gracious God we have. To quote Third Day, "Praise to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our King, to Him we will sing. In His great mercy He has given us life. Now we can be called the children of God".

Feeling depressed, don't be. Stand on the promises of Jesus Christ. Are feelings can change, but our gracious Lord and Saviour never will.