Are You a Miserable Christian?

I've begun reading Martin Lloyd-Jones' Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures. It's a book I've read about from time to time, and now seemed the right time to give it a shot. I've read the first two chapters and of course it's no surprise to me to discover that a book by Lloyd-Jones is 1) powerfully eloquent, and 2) Gospel-drenched. Reading this in combination with Packer's Knowing God is, well, bracing.

A note: Spiritual Depression was originally published in 1965. Knowing God, around 1971. When it comes to reading of this kind, one cannot be slavishly devoted to the latest books, or to this week's best sellers list.

One of the things that sets these books apart from many contemporary books is that they are truly Gospel-centered. It is rather shocking to some of us--but apparently not to a surprisingly large number of other Christians--that the Gospel is not particularly central to much preaching, teaching, and writing in the church today.

That should be very disturbing. That should make a knot form in your Christian gut. That should cause you to wonder what's going on in the church today, and to seek out and cling to and apply the Gospel message with a stubborn insistence.

The message of Lloyd-Jones is that the Gospel still produces joy. If you are struggling, if you are miserable, if you are care-worn, if sin is besetting you, it won't help simply to exercise more discipline, or try to pray with more fervor, or volunteer at the soup kitchen more often, etc. You still need the Gospel. God's power, his effectual love, is manifested when you repair to the cross again.