Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ by Fitzpatrick Elyse M. / Johnson Dennis E

Author:Fitzpatrick, Elyse M. / Johnson, Dennis E. [Fitzpatrick, Elyse M. / Johnson, Dennis E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Good News Publishers
Published: 2009-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

SAD PASTOR JACK

Although Jack wasn’t raised in a believing home, he has loved God from his earliest teen years. A serious and bright student, Jack quickly came to realize that he was called to serve as a pastor. It was to this end that he went to college and seminary. Upon graduation and marriage, Jack landed in full-time ministry, but over time he grew discouraged; he understood deep truth but found himself unable to live out that truth, and that is still where Jack finds himself today.

He is frequently snappish and judgmental with his wife and people in the church office. He continually feels bad about his behavior and tries to control himself, but even when he is able to avoid outbursts, he still fumes inwardly. When he reads (or preaches on) passages about how we are to love one another, the law enslaves, crushes, and terrifies him. He feels guilty, and his guilt causes his anger and faultfinding to grow.

The guiltier he feels about his lack of love, the more unloving he becomes. He labors to become more loving and patient, to punctiliously fulfill the law, but still his anger and self-condemnation crowd out all his good intentions. If you ask Jack how he would characterize his faith, he could tell you all about justification by faith and progressive sanctification. He knows all the right answers, but he has forgotten the gospel.

Some time ago, during a particularly stressful situation, Jack was overcome by feelings of self-condemnation and worthlessness. He no longer had the ability to handle all the problems in the church while trying to suppress or answer his feelings of self-loathing. He didn’t have the energy to get up and preach, and his hands shook continually. Observing this, the deacon board decided that Jack was depressed and in need of a leave of absence.

One thing led to another, and soon Jack found himself in a residential treatment center for the severely depressed. Once the therapists at the center had time to get to know him, they concluded that he wasn’t deeply depressed, so they put him on medication and released him.

What does Jack need? Does he need medicine? Does he need someone to tell him that the church abused him? Does he need to learn to love himself so that he can love his neighbor? No, of course not. Okay then, but does he need to simply put off anger and put on kindness? Yes, he needs to do this, but not before he has soaked himself in the truth about what Jesus Christ has already done on his behalf. He needs to refocus his mind continually on the truth that God loved him and sent his Son to be the propitiation for his sin. Until he does that, until the joy of the Lord becomes his strength, the biblical mandate to love his neighbor will be just as out of reach as it always has been, and just as condemning to his already guilt-ridden conscience.

Jack’s life is

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