“Following God, the Mid-East & Dealing with Depression” Part 2

The professor concluded saying: “I worked hard to affect a meaningful ministry in the Middle East and accomplished nothing. I believe we are all called and within that call we will usually be unsuccessful, therefore we will become depressed and depression is the darkness that accompanies serving God.”

Are you getting depressed yet? If so, you are not alone. For generations, others have asked the same question: “Am I called by God for a mission… only to fail?” 1 John is a beautiful letter in the Bible written to offer encouragement to a church once filled with enthusiasm but now discouraged. “The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen.” (1 John 1:1) God is alive and extraordinarily aware of what is happening in the world and we are a crucial part of God’s plan.

John answers the question very simply: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.” (4:7) That’s it? “Love one another?” It sounds like something from the old hippie generation in San Francisco: “Happiness is to love everybody!” (Give me a break, Larry!) It does sound kind of corny… doesn’t it? Maybe it all depends on how you define the word love.

Most of us tend to use “love” to define an intense feeling. “I love my spouse. I love to watch football. I love chocolate ice cream. I love my church.” Love based on feelings makes a good romance but any marriage with too much emphasis on feelings alone is a one-way ticket to divorce court because feelings tend to rise and fall. People who love a church based on feelings, change churches every two or three years because feelings alone don’t quite capture the meaning of… love, as defined by God.

Is God saying love one another like we are supposed to have feelings of love for everyone? I have a confession to make. There are a few, (only a few?) hopefully very few people that I don’t feel much love toward. Actually, I don’t like their attitude or their personality. In fact, I don’t love them at all. But as a preacher, shouldn’t I love everyone? I felt so guilty. What does God mean by “love one another?”

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10) God’s love goes way beyond feelings and becomes a covenant, a divine commitment and an atoning sacrifice. In a word, it is also called grace.

U  Love is… an act of faith that enables the world to see God through you. 

U  Love is… an attitude of grace towards those you would normally dislike.

U  Love is… a commitment to stick together when feelings are no longer enough.

U  Love is… a discipline requiring a consistent willingness to be obedient to God’s will. 

U  Love is… often a sacrifice, willfully putting someone else’s needs before your wants.

“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us and his love has been brought to full expression through us.” (4:11-12) As we learn to love God… God’s love is expressed through us toward others.

Larry, this is profound but being a loving person offers no help to the depressed professor who could not resolve the Middle East crisis. How can God call us to a mission only to experience failure?

But, did the professor really fail? In love, he offered an act of faith that enabled us to see the world with different eyes. He displayed grace toward a forgotten people. He made a commitment to stick by his promise. The professor consistently wrote letters and articles about the crisis. He often sacrificed his time and energy. I left his presence changed. For me and others, his mission was a total success.

What about you? Are you seeing yourself as a failure when God has other ideas? After all, God never called us to change the world. That is His job! We are simply to be obedient by offering others the same wonderful gift of love God has given us. A word of kindness or a deed of compassion may not solve the world’s problems but it could change a life and it’s the best way I know to serve God. We have no reason to be depressed or discouraged. “I write this… so that you may know…” (5:13)