Downcast? That's not abnormal!

William Bridge in his work, A Lifting Up for the Downcast, offers us these thoughts:


Nine things there are, which usually are grounds and occasions of the discouragements of God's people.
I.  Sometimes their discouragements are drawn from their greater and grosser sins.
II.  Sometimes they arise from the weakness of grace.
III.  Sometimes they are taken from their failing in and non-acceptance of duty.
IV.  Sometimes they are draw from their lack of evidence for heaven, and non-assurance of the love of God.
V.  Sometimes they come from their temptations.
VI.  Sometimes from their desertions.
VII.  Sometimes from their afflictions.
VIII.  Sometimes from their unserviceableness.
IX.  Sometimes from their condition itself.

For Bridge as well as other Puritans being "downcast" was not a sin but rather a common result of the redeemed living among the unredeemed and striving to be in but not of the world.  Downcast-ness comes in every battle and we must accept that we are in a continuous battle - every moment of every day.

Now we must pray that we appreciate our downcasted-ness and respect it as a very real and clear evidence of our "otherness."  We are a colony of the redeemed living on foreign shores among peoples utterly opposed to us and our Master.  

Downcast-ness should not provoke despair.  Despair is a sense of futility - even a sense of vanity and we must claim the fact that, although we may not see the why or how of it, our lives are - cannot be - futile or vain if they are lived for Him and by Him.

It is, from my perspective, the insidious spirit of covetousness - comparing our selves to others and/or the "norms" of the culture - that is the most common poison that casts us down. 

Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 11 NASB
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; [8] we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [11] For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Note:
afflicted - not crushed
perplexed - not despairing
persecuted - not forsaken
struck down - not destroyed
delivered over to death - Jesus made manifest

This is our lot here.  Jesus Himself told us so.  Are we willing to forgo the comfort of this world so He might be seen?  

Do we long for heaven?  Heaven has been described many ways but a true picture is that heaven is the utter and complete absence of sin.  Do we ache for our sin and the lostness of others?  Do we long to be where sin is not and can never be?  Then we will, at times, be downcast - but we are so only for a short time and then we will never be able to be downcast again.

Long for heaven and await His pleasure of calling you there.  As long as you wake up, regardless of how downcast you may be, He has something for you to do for Him.  You may not see it - you may never know you did it - but He uses us all for His name's sake.

0400713 Business thinking.

For some strange reason (maybe sin?) we seem to make a distinction between our "religious" life and our "business" life.  Well, that's a serious error.  In fact, the Puritans considered one who made such a distinction and potentially unsaved and fooling themselves.

Levi the tax collector in Matthew 2 and Zaccheus in Luke 19 make that point very clearly. Not only that but even a cursory reading of Isaiah and the other Prophets make is clear that God judges not only our "religious" attitudes and actions but our commercial ones as well - and His wrath is kindled against them.

It's a matter of humility.  Humility?

Yes.

Biblical humility is fighting the hard and grueling battle to be and stay submitted to the call of God upon our lives.  It's the acceptance that no where except at the foot of His throne, beseeching His provision will we ever have a hope of bringing glory to His name in anything we attempt.  It is truly and viscerally a dieing to "self."   A mortification of the flesh.  A life lived in full awareness of the the cost of even the smallsts of our sins (if any can be called small).

To put is in plain and main talk:


He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:8)

Justice, kindness (mercy) and humility before God.  do you really know what these call for?  Or are they just really need words that simple "inspire" and then "expire?"

Here are three "key core values" worth digging into  - worth any and all the time and effort it takes you to live for His names sake.  These are three lenses through which the light of the truth - the light of the world - shines through us to His honor and glory.

Oh - don't fool yourselves.  These are NOT just religious values.  If they don't or can't apply to your business then your business is in real trouble - eve if it's Christian business (whatever that is).

Think about this.  There is no such thing as a "christian" company,business, endeavor, organization, cause, even, etc.  There may be Christians involved and indeed it may be done for the glory of Christ but ONLY redeemed human beings can claim the denomination "Christian."  Adding "christian" as an adjective is meaningless - maybe as an adverb it has some meaning but ONLY PEOPLE - REDEEMED PEOPLE are Christian.

Your business, church, organization, etc can never be any more Christian than the newest, even weakest believer who is a part of it.

We do business to "gain" something - provision.  We live for Christ and in Christ because of what we have already gained - which only He provides.  Can you see the difference?

Just some food for thought --- I pray it provokes you to turn to His Word and humbly in prayer cry out:


Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.   (Psa 26:2)

Wait for the answer and follow!