Winning over Depression Part 2. Spirituality

• Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut, the second man to set foot on the moon
• Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer
• Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian politician and former Prime Minister of Norway
• David Bohm, British quantum physicist
• Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
• David Chase, American television writer, television director and television producer (The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure, The Sopranos)
• Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister
• Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States.
• Eminem, American Rapper
• J. K. Rowling, British writer
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon, famous British preacher.

Sheesh, what do these people have in common?

They are just a very small sample from a list that I have of 210 famous people who have all struggled with depression.

I started my blog on winning over depression by talking about medication but I should have started it with the most important thing to me and that is my relationship with God. It's such a part of my life that I take it for granted in the best possible way. I believe spiritual health to be the MOST important part of winning over depression on a daily basis - a bit like alcoholics win over alcoholism on a daily basis.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

“A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel that our spirits were designed to burn, or the food that our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.”

I have been reading a book about cycling across Tibet, and the author writes of seeing Tibetan pilgrims travelling on foot from their villages to Lhasa, the sacred centre of Tibetan Buddhism. They would take one step, then bow down on both knees and press their forehead to the ground. They would do this for every step they took. Some would take a year to reach Lhasa. Why do they do this? - In the hope of improving their karma for their next reincarnation.

We were designed to be at our best when in relationship with God. But that relationship has been cut off through our sin. The amazing grace of God has made a way for us to be reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. A sacrifice with infinite value that covers every sin you or I have ever committed or ever will commit.

 God took all our sins and placed them upon Jesus on the cross, so that you and I don’t have to take even one step or even bow down once, to be right with Him. We are reconciled to God and placed in a warm, loving relationship with Him because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and nothing else need be added.

The Bible says, "It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process."
Huh? Which is it? Perfect, or taking part in the purifying process? The only way this verse makes sense is if we understand that when someone calls on Jesus to save them, the Bible says, "they have clothed themselves with Christ". Now when God looks at us, He sees Jesus. In other words God sees us as perfect. But we know, and God knows, that from our perspective inside Jesus, there is a whole lot of "the purifying process" happening! The Bible says that Jesus "became sin in order that we might become the righteousness of God". Woah.

From these truths we gain the deepest sense of security, acceptance and significance on a daily basis - very important stuff for people who struggle with depression.