Dealing with Holiday Depression

 

The holidays bring huge doses of depression with them. People with no family, a dysfunctional family, a long-distance family or a disharmonious family feel the separation more acutely during these traditional times of family gatherings.

The commercial hype and unrealistic expectations for our personal Santa to read our mind and to get us exactly the gift we anticipate puts undue pressure on our significant others to perform beyond their human capabilities.

God already gave us His antidote for these poisonous expectations. He provided us with both a nurturing family and the best gift the world ever received. We are members of His Body, children of the King and recipients of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Nothing this world offers can compare. Moth and rust will destroy any earthly gift. They break down and wear out and must be replaced. However, Christ's gift of His everlasting peace and joy are gifts that keep on giving all year long and on into infinity.

We drink of His living water and never thirst again (John 4:14). We walk in His Spirit and abide in true happiness which never wanes (Galatians 5:15-25). Our loving heavenly Father knows best, provides for our needs and never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5).

So, when you think of Christmas shopping this year, make God your priority. Attend a Christmas Eve or Day service and enjoy your church family. Read God's Word which offers eternal life as well as wisdom for daily living.

While contemplating your New Year's resolutions, include church attendance, prayer, Bible study and Christian service in your list. Put them at the top of the list and make them a priority. You will find true comfort and joy.

Prayer:

Father God, we humans are so materialistic. We work so hard to move up the ladder of success, abandoning our families and making the almighty dollar our idol and priority. We want more money to buy more things for our children without realizing that we are failing to give them what they really want and need most - our time and attention.

Help us to make You our priority in our life and to follow Your wisdom and precepts as our guiding light for true success on this earth. We not only reap greater rewards now, but we store up treasure in heaven for eternity (Matthew 6:19-21). Help us to bring as many people to heaven with us as will humble themselves under Your mighty hand (1 Peter 5:6-9).

Thought for the Day:

The best way to sidestep holiday depression is to appreciate all that God has given to us and to do random acts of kindness for those less fortunate than we are.

Living in the Will of God

Read: Proverbs 3:5-6

“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

It is important to live our life in the will of God. Jesus said, “Those who do the will of my Father are my brothers, sisters and mother” (Mark 3: 33-35; Matthew 12:50). Therefore, not everyone who claims to be a Christian will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God (Matthew 7:21). The prerequisite for living in the will of God is to have a personal relationship with Him (John 14:6; 1Timothy 2:4). The initial step of living in the will of God is to look to Jesus and believe that He is God who came in the flesh to give us eternal life (John 6:40). God desires that everyone will come to a saving knowledge of His Truth and to live with Him for eternity (1 Timothy 2:4).

As a Believer, we are gradually conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in holiness and sanctification. We slowly receive the heart of God, the obedience of Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4: 2-4). It is exciting to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children according to the will of God (Romans 8:27). Paul exhorts us to give ourselves first to the Lord and then to the will of God (2 Corinthians 8:5-6). Through the discipline of attending weekly Bible studies and having daily personal times in Bible reading and meditation, we see how Biblical characters learned to walk in the will of God.

Jesus is our supreme illustration of one who lived totally in the will of God. He also only acted and spoke as the Father directed Him (John 5:19). He walked in obedience all the way to Calvary’s cross (Hebrews 5:8). He gave us examples of times of undistracted and concentrated fervent prayer, which will open our ears to hear God’s direction for our day (Matthew 11:15). God wants us to pray with a grateful heart as we intercede and make requests for all people, especially for those in high governmental positions. This allows us to live peaceful, godly, dignified and quiet lives in every way (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

We can request that other Believers pray with us too for a particular decision or situation (Romans 15:30-33). There were many times when the Apostle Paul desired with all of his heart to go visit his fellow Believers, and he asked them to pray about it with him. God did not always open this door for him, however (Romans 1; 9-11). Paul often suffered for doing good deeds, because he obeyed the will of God (1 Peter 3:17), but this never deterred him from obedience. Paul even tells us to obey our employers and political leaders who have rule over us, because we are bondservants of Christ. Through this, we do the will of God and render service to God, even though we are obeying a person (Ephesians 6:5-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16).

As we live in the will of God we learn to discern whether some teaching we hear or read is Biblically based or derived from false doctrine (John 7:17). We have no desire to conform to the image of the carnal world, but to be transformed by renewing our mind until we live in the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). God’s will for us is to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks even in our negative circumstances as well as for us not to quench the movement of the Holy Spirit within us by doing evil deeds (1 Thessalonians 5 16-19).

 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You only did what You saw our Father do (John 5:19). If You, being God, had to consult our Father in prayer, how can we do any less? You did not make a move outside of the will of God, and neither should we. Instead, we rush around life accomplishing our own will and heaping up for ourselves treasures on earth instead of in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). Teach us to do only Your will moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

If we abide in the will of God, we will live forever with Him in eternity.
- 1 John 2:17