Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A Message For The Depressed & Downtrodden


John Piper has given some well thought out points on communicating truth to those dealing with anger, depression, skepticism, confusion and a myriad of other difficult issues. Read the snippet below.

If you care about people and risk talking to the depressed, the doubting, the skeptical, the confused, and the angry, you will soon run into a person who says to your counsel: I’ve tried that. Whatever you say, they will minimize it and say it doesn’t work. Do not be surprised at this response. This is what it means to be depressed, doubting, skeptical, confused, angry. It means that whatever they hear sounds useless.

So I want to offer some suggestions for what you say in a conversation that is about to be cut off like that...


You can read the rest here.

Some questions:
-Should believers always seek to point believers and unbelievers alike back to the Gospel? Is it always the answer?
-Does this give you a fresh perspective on ministering to others that are dealing with depression and the like?

1 comment:

Timm said...

John Piper also wrote an excellent book on the topic, titles, "When the Darkness Will Not Lift." It's also worth your time, whether you're experiencing depression or not.