I’m breaking my own rule here about using social media on the Lord’s Day. However, in my defense, with my conference involvement yesterday, I simply forgot all about preparing the Bible Study notes. Anyway, here are the morning and evening notes; single use here. Get past notes by clicking on Bible Reading Plan tag below. And for those who use these with their children, sorry for the delay in posting.
Heaven and Hell by Ted Donnelly
I was really delighted to see David Powlison’s careful, balanced, loving response to the question: “Do you believe that there is a biological basis for depression which may endure, despite the fact that heart issues have been successfully addressed through biblical counseling? If so, is there a place for long-term use of medication?”
Well, not quite.
But I am trying to learn from violinists. In Anders Ericcson’s famous study, concert violinists reported that except for practice itself, sleep was the second most important factor in improving as violinists. The top performers slept an average of 8 ½ hours out of every 24, including a 20 to 30 minute midafternoon nap. That’s 2 hours a day more than the average American! So why do we (pastors especially?) continue to sacrifice sleep in an attempt to be more productive?As Tony Schwartz points out in Sleep is more important than food, the research is unanimous: “even small amounts of sleep deprivation take a significant toll on our health, our mood, our cognitive capacity and our productivity….Many of the effects we suffer are invisible. Insufficient sleep, for example, deeply impairs our ability to consolidate and stabilize learning that occurs during the waking day. In other words, it wreaks havoc on our memory.”
The myth of sleep less do more
Speaking personally, I know in my heart of hearts that Tony is right, at least in the long-term. However, in the short and medium term I find that I can drive myself to do more by sleeping less. That’s probably why the myth of “sleep less, do more” persists for most of us. It appears to work.
If you are in the Grand Rapids area and would like help with depression, or with caring for a depressed person, you may want to come along to a conference on the subject this evening and tomorrow. Although the addresses will be based upon my book, Christians get depressed too, I will also present additional material and there will be plenty time for discussion.
The conference has been organized by the Institute of Reformed Biblical Counseling, a fledgling organization that wants to bring a more distinctively Reformed voice to the practice of Biblical Counseling.Yesterday we looked at how the love of money is the root of all evil. How how do we kill this noxious weed – right down to the roots?
In 1 Timothy 6 Paul not only issues warnings, but also provides us with two weedkillers – one that is more passive (contentment) and the other much more active (godliness). When you put them together you get a blessed formula: godliness + contentment = great wealth (v. 6). The passive weedkiller: contentment (1 Tim. 6:7-8)Paul says, “NO! You’ve got this upside down. Godliness equals gain.” And to build contentment, he urges us to meditate especially on our departure from this world: “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” I think it was John Piper who said, “There are no U-Haul trailers behind hearses.” We come in to this world empty and we leave this world empty.
The active weedkiller: godliness (1 Tim. 6:11-12)
Paul follows his warnings about the love of money (vv. 9-10) with a call to the active pursuit of godliness. Yes, passive contentment kills the leaves and the stems of covetousness, but it’s vigorous godliness that reaches the roots: “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” (vv. 11-12). “Flee…pursue… fight…lay hold…” What active and aggressive imperatives. If we are energetically and enthusiastically engaged in building Christ’s kingdom, the weeds of covetousness will not find friendly soil in our hearts.