Be The Fruit

Getting rid of fear.

by Bill Blair on 15/07/08 at 11:40 am

I have been reading Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  Link here. In the book, Jones takes on the problem of depression for Christians.  Essentially, the book is a recreation of a series of sermons that he delivered on the subject.  There are 21 chapters so I think that equals 21 consecutive sermons.  How is that for a sermon series??

I will probably do a fuller review when I complete the book, but I read some things I wanted to share.

In chapter seven, he deals with fear as a cause of depression.  To overcome the problem, he uses 2 Timothy 1:7 as an instructive verse.  It states:  “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Here are some quotes I highlighted that I wanted to share for you to think about:

“…what after all, is the main cause of this spirit of fear?  The answer is ’self’ — self-love, self-concern, self-protection.  Had you realized that the essence of this trouble is that these fearful people are really too absorbed in self — ‘how can I do this, what if I fail?’”

“There is only one way to get rid of self, and that is that you should become so absorbed in someone or something else that you have no time to think about yourself.”

“…as you become absorbed in the love of God you will forget all about yourself.  ‘The spirit of love!’  It will deliver you from self-interest, self-concern, and from depression about self, because depression results from self and self-concern.  It gets rid of self at all points.”

What he is saying is that depression can be caused by fear which can be caused by too much concern for “self.”  Love can get rid of such selfish concern; therefore, love can get rid of the fear that is causing the depression.

Interesting stuff.  Hope it gives you something to think about today.