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Inner Happiness - PH80-02
Advanced Bible Doctrine - Philippians 4:4© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1976)
Please turn to Philippians 4:4 as we study the fact that happiness is your duty. The apostle Paul has dealt with a source of unhappiness in
the Philippian church among the community of believers who lived in the city of Philippi. We read about that in Philippians 4:1-3. This
particular unhappiness had to do with two very active church ladies, Euodia and Syntyche, who were in conflict with one another. Consequently,
because they were in tension with one another, they were unhappy. Christians at peace are happy Christians. Paul is moving to make that point.
When he gets to verse 7, that's specifically what he says: "And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus."
Rejoice
He begins that particular line of thought back in verse for verse 4, our verse we're studying today, where he says,
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice." So rejoicing and peace are connected together. People who are not at peace are not happy
people. Any area of conflict in your life brings unhappiness into your experience. Depression, consequently, in various forms, plagues millions
of Americans today. That's a self-evident fact to anybody who has eyes to see. For this reason, thousands of people resort to suicide and many
thousands more resort to suicide, but they are not able to carry it off. It is appalling how many people actually do kill themselves, but it is
equally appalling how many more try to do it, and can't pull it off. Why do they do it in either case? It is because they're unhappy. Finally,
they are driven to the point to deal with their depression and their unhappiness by doing away with their physical lives.
So the solutions that the world has to offer, and that most people come to naturally, to solve the problem of personal unhappiness, is wrong.
The approach is wrong. The whole concept is wrong. So happiness eludes them. But those who are in the business of counseling people, in various
ways in life, are aware of the fact that depression is the greatest burden that Americans carry today. We can tell that in some respect from
letters that we get from our tapers. One reoccurring theme is, "Do you have something on depression? I experience such terrible depression. I
find that I'm just so unhappy. There's nothing in life that is a pleasure to me." The theme is repeated again and again, in one way or another,
and they reach out and say, "Can you give us something to help us in our unhappiness?"
Well, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians to give them the divine viewpoint principles for countering unhappiness. He begins in
verse 4 in a rather amazing way. He says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." The divine plan is for people to be happy. A Christian's life is to be
filled with joy, like a room is flooded with sunshine. Your life as a believer should be flooded with the sunshine of happiness. It should not
be, "Today, I'm happy. Tomorrow it's blue Monday, and I'm down." It is to be a consistent level of personal happiness.
Immediately, we recoil from such an idea because we think that's impractical. That's impossible. People can't live like that. But on the basis of
the Word of God, I must counter that and say that that's exactly what God says we can do, and what He expects of us. It is, in effect, a duty.
God says, "It is your duty to be happy."
Inner Happiness
The lack of the quality of inner happiness has some very grim effects on our lives. The world misses happiness because it sees happiness as being
associated with external matters. When the world thinks about happiness, they think of it in terms of some person: "I'm happy because I'm with
somebody. I'm happy because I'm not with somebody." Or they think of it in terms of circumstances: "This situation I'm in makes me happy. This
situation I'm in, that makes me unhappy." Or the world thinks of happiness in terms of things: "I have this thing. It makes me happy to have
this thing. I would be happy if I had this thing over here that I don't have." But the Word of God says that's wrong. Happiness is not
structured upon circumstances, people, or things. If you are building your happiness on that, then I will guarantee you that your happiness will
be short-lived, and most of life will be depression and unhappiness for you.
A Christian with God's happiness developed in his soul is never depressed by the externals: circumstances; people; or, things. That's what
inner happiness is all about – being able to associate with an inner quality that God will make available to you, and not with these
external qualities for happiness. One is genuine happiness, and the other is a false happiness.
Now, Paul is writing about the fact that he is happy, and he is calling upon the Philippians to be happy. But I remind you that Paul is talking
about being happy while he is in the external depressing circumstance of prison. He's writing this book from prison, and yet he's happy under
those circumstances. Paul is surrounded, as we learned earlier in this book, by a group of Christians in Rome who are competing with him and
trying to give him misery. So they are undermining his ministry, and they are trying to add burdens to him, all in the process of doing the
Lord's work, and yet, Paul is not unhappy with those people. Paul has been denied many comforts, possessions, and things – some things
that he would like to have available to him, even in his restricted ministry. Yet, he is not unhappy because these conveniences and these
things have been denied him in prison. I'm saying, on the authority of the Word of God, that part of a Christian's heritage is that you should
be happy – not that you should experience Satan's depression.
So verse 4 begins with the word, "Rejoice." This is the Greek word "chairo." This word means to have a stable mental attitude within the
fluctuations of life. Whatever may happen up or down in life, a stable mental attitude is implied by this word, "Rejoice." This word connotes
a sense of well-being, no matter what – personal well-being, no matter what. We're talking about the quality of inner happiness, not
external happiness. This is the inner happiness that Jesus gives.
You can check your level of inner happiness by the time gap it takes for you
to have a sense of well-being when something happens in your life. Some crisis occurs. Some situation hits you, and you can take it in stride.
Some people will hit a crisis, and immediately they can be thankful to the Lord. No matter what has happened, at that point, they can thank
God for what might have happened and did not happen, and for the fact of what did happen, because He's telling us something. He's instructing.
He's refining. Our inner happiness, if it's really there, will give us a short time lag between something that happens, and our sense of
well-being; between our experience with some person, and our sense of well-being; or, with our gaining or loss of something, and our sense of
well-being.
The word "rejoice" has here the present tense. Present tense means a constant status of happiness. Don't miss the present tense here. Paul is
saying, "God wants you always to be happy." Secondly, it is active voice. Don't miss that. Active voice means that it's up to you. I know that
usually people say, "He makes me so unhappy." No, he doesn't. You make yourself unhappy. If you're not happy, it is because of something in
yourself. You are able to control whether you are happy or not. That's active voice. You can't tell that from the English. You have been
introduced to a very vital piece of divine viewpoint. Happiness is present tense – constantly. That's what present tense in the Greek
means. It is to be a constant experience. Active means that you doing it by personal choice. But here's the zinger. This happens to be
imperative mood. Imperative mood, as you know, is a command. Here is our mighty God looking you eyeball-to-eyeball, and commanding you to be
happy at all times by your personal choice. The Lord just says, "Do it." Don't stand around giving excuses. Do it.
Obviously, you do have to learn how to do it. You can't just grit your teeth and say, "Boy, I'm going to be happy if it kills me," because
you won't be happy, and it will kill you. Happiness is a very easy reality when you learn how to do it. My first point is that the word "rejoice"
is telling us a great deal about what God expects of us. You do it. Do it all the time. You can do it. You are commanded to do it.
Instead of the ugly competitions and the conflicts such as was reflected by Euodia and Syntyche, which Suzygus was delegated as a man in
spiritual authority to resolve, these two Christian ladies should have been walking in peace. Had they been walking in peace, they would have
had happiness. Because they were in conflict, they were also unhappy, because people who are in conflict are always unhappy. People in conflict
are grim; they are mean; and, they are cutting. The peace that Jesus gives is not some emotion that is humanly contrived. It is something of
reality that God gives you.
The full details of the subject and the doctrine of happiness, we have already covered earlier in this series. You can review the details. We're
not going to go over that again. We're going to build a little further on that. But if you have that background in mind (the full gamut of the
doctrine of happiness, as the Bible lays it out), which we will not review again, it will help you to understand this section more. So I'd just
refer you back to that.
Jesus Christ is God
The next words are very critical also. It is not only, "Rejoice," but it is, "Rejoice in the Lord." That gives us our frame of reference (our
anchor point) for the kind of happiness that the apostle Paul says God commands us to have. The word "in" is the Greek word "en." That refers
to location. This is telling us the context of this happiness. "Lord" has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. The word "Lord" is "kurios." "Kurios,"
as you know, is the word that specifically emphasizes the deity of Jesus Christ. The word "kurios" stresses the deity of Christ. It is important,
if you are going to be happy, that you understand that Jesus Christ is God. That is because all of your happiness is going to come from Him, or
you are not going to be happy. There is no happiness apart from Jesus Christ. The first step toward happiness of every human being is to receive
Jesus Christ as personal Savior. However, you cannot receive Christ as personal Savior unless you are clear on the point that He is God. You
cannot receive Him as a good man. You can't receive Him as a fine martyr, and be born again. Until you are born again, you cannot experience
happiness. All you can have are these little short-shot emotional occasions, when you've got some highs, and you call that happiness.
John 1:1
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed Lord. He is God. He is the living God. The gospel of John is the gospel which was designed for the
church age, to tell us all about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. This gospel (specifically written to the church body) makes it
clear from the very beginning that He is God. In the very first verse of that gospel, we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God." Then we have that critical third phrase, "And the Word was God." "Word" in the Greek is "logos," and "logos" refers (we see, by
the context) to Jesus of Nazareth. "He is called, "The Word." It refers to this person who was born in Bethlehem, and who grew up in Nazareth,
and who is called here, in the first chapter of John, the "Word."
The beautiful Greek language that God gave us tells us something very important
about Jesus Christ in reference to what He is called here, the "logos" of God (the "Word" of God). The Greek language has a way of taking the
word "the," which is grammatically called the definite article, and it identifies the subject of a sentence. The Greek Bible, in this particular
phrase, literally says, "And God was the Word." The question is, what is the subject here? Is it "God," or is it "Word?" "And God was the Word"
does not establish that Jesus Christ was deity. If that's the way you translate it, that doesn't say that Jesus Christ is deity, because "And God
was the Word" makes God the subject. But we know from the Greek language, that that's wrong. What it says is, "And the Word was God."
Now, that's
just normal Greek grammar. Everybody who knows any kind of Greek at all knows that that word "the" marks for us the subject. "And the Word was God."
Who is the Word? Look in the context, and you will find that it is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus of Nazareth that is being discussed here. He is
clearly declared to be God.
Now that is a very significant declaration concerning the deity of Jesus Christ. You should have no question whatsoever about that. All of the
cults consistently deny the fact that Jesus Christ is anything more than a fine man. Nobody who is in the cults ever experiences genuine
happiness because of that fact alone. Having denied the deity of Christ, he has committed his soul to hell forever, and he cannot be born again.
That is serious business. So make no mistakes about the fact that Jesus Christ is God. This rule of grammar makes it very clear to us that the
subject here is the "Word:" "And the Word was God." The definite article tells us that.
Also, you'll notice that "The Word was God" leaves room for the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity says that it is Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit that form the Godhead. To say "The word was God" does not exclude that the Father is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. So God
the Holy Spirit just absolutely preserved the Scriptures in a perfect way. That's why we believe in verbal plenary inspiration. Verbal inspiration
means that the very words that had to be used to express divine truth were used.
Granville Sharp's Rule
I want to pursue this a little more for you, because there's a rule that we have referred to before, Granville Sharp's rule of Greek grammar.
Granville Sharpe's rules is a very simple rule. Granville Sharp's rule comes into play if you have two nouns, and in between the two nouns you
have the word "and," and before the first noun you have this definite article "the," but you don't have it before the second noun.
Granville Sharpe's rule was an analysis of Koine Greek practice, and thus they discovered that this was the way the Greeks used the language.
Anytime you have this situation where you have two nouns (and both of these, incidentally, are in what we call the same case), and they are
connected by the word "and," and the first has "the," but the second one does not, that automatically tells you that the second noun is referring
to the same subject or person as the first noun, and that the second one is telling you something more about the first noun. These two things are
talking about the same thing.
Notice how this is significant. In 2 Peter 1:1, we have a very important statement made about Jesus Christ that Granville Sharpe's rule, again,
establishes that He is God. The end of the verse says, "The righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ." Here you have "God" and "Savior,
Jesus Christ." The two are connected in such a way to indicate that Jesus Christ is God. He is God. He is savior. It is referring to the same
thing.
We have this in Titus 2:13: "Looking for that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ." Here we
have the first noun, "Great God," and the second noun is "Savior." Then it identifies it as, "Savior, Jesus Christ." So our great God is our Savior,
Jesus Christ. This rule tells us that the second noun, "Savior, Jesus Christ" is referring to the first noun, "God." Therefore, there can be no
question that the Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ is God. You would never know that from reading Titus 2:13 in the English. But anybody who
reads Greek immediately would see that the second noun is explaining a little more about the first noun – that the words "Savior, Jesus
Christ" are explaining a little more about God. Jesus Christ is God.
So when you reject the deity of Jesus Christ, you make yourself a certain candidate for unhappiness, because the first step for happiness is to
be born again, because inner happiness is part of a structure of spiritual maturity in the soul (the spiritual maturity structure). One of the
facets is this one of inner happiness that we build in the soul. Unless you are born again, you cannot build spiritual maturity in your
soul. Therefore, anybody who rejects the deity of Christ cannot be born again. Since you cannot be born again, you cannot build inner
happiness, and therefore, you can never experience real joy. So happiness in the Lord means a relationship to Jesus Christ. Now you're born
again. That relationship is conformity to the mind of Christ. This means conformity to the Word of God – conformity to the Bible. Any
mental attitude or overt action in conflict with Bible doctrine principles is not living in the Lord, so it is not productive of happiness.
Any stepping out of line with what the Bible teaches is to ensure unhappiness for yourself.
The apostle Paul in Philippians says, "I command you on the basis of the authority of God to rejoice in the Lord," meaning in the viewpoints,
in the mind of Christ, and in Bible doctrine principles. Then he adds the very critical word "always." That still bothers you, doesn't it –
this constant driving of Paul against the fact that you have no excuse for being unhappy? I know all of you are going to go out of here smiling
like crazy today, but that isn't going to cut it. You're going to have to learn how to produce inner happiness, because "pantote, "which is the
word in the Greek for "always" means "at all times." You are to be happy at all times. Happiness in the soul is to be the constant, relaxed
attitude of believers. This is inner happiness, and it is a major objective, responsibility, and duty of the Christian life. It is to become
your normal life pattern – to be happy at all times.
Right there, you want to throw your hands up and say, "OK, you have really gone off your rocker
now, because I can think of several times this week when I was not really very happy." Now, again, if you're talking about circumstances, people,
or things, you're talking about an external that is not a pleasant situation. But if you are a person with inner happiness, those externals do
not affect your sense of well-being with God; with yourself; or, with others. You take the worst of things in stride. So how many times this
week were you uptight, or were you ugly over somebody or over something that came into your life? How many snarling remarks did you make? How
many times did you cut somebody down? How many times did you excuse yourself? You may have said, "Well, my temporary short, I'm a little tired."
What you were reflecting was, at that point, happiness was not functioning in your life.
Inner Happiness
Obviously, God is not going to command us to do something that He does not also enable us to do. Our God is our wisdom. He knows better than
to tell us to do what we cannot do. He knows how, therefore, to enable us to do what He tells us to do. So He has given us the written
revelation of the Bible, and He has given us a pastor-teacher gift in the local church organization to explain the Bible doctrine principles
recorded in the Bible. Believers who go positive to the instruction under the filling of the Holy Spirit will change the knowledge they receive
from instruction into that full knowledge that they can store in their human spirits. That "epignosis" (full knowledge) stored in their human
spirits supplies the spiritual food by which they can develop the spiritual maturity structure in their souls, and thus builds up the facet of
inner happiness.
Now, that's a quick summary of things we've talked about in detail before, so we're not going to go into that. But it all comes from taking
doctrine into your soul. That's the only thing that's going to build this structure of spiritual maturity. That's the only thing that will
develop inner happiness within you. But when you do that, you will be amazed at yourself. You will see the changes coming into your life.
You will see the changes of mind and of attitude, and you will find the gap closing more and more between the crisis event and your sense of
well-being. Once the crisis event came, and after a good cry; a good depression; a good agony; a good chewing out; and, a good blaspheming
of God, you came back into alignment. Maybe it took a week and two or three; then maybe it shortened to a week; and, maybe now it's even a
few hours before you have your reaction against God; your indignation; your depression; and, your unhappiness. Then you get stabilized, and
you're back with the Lord.
You'll find that pretty soon the gap will close, and it'll be practically indistinguishable. The
crisis comes, and your sense of well-being and a thankfulness to God in the midst of that unhappy situation (so to speak), and in the midst of
that pressure, there'll be no time gap at all. That is full maturity development, but that only comes at super grace. Christians who are not
at super grace level have a time lag of some dimension between the pressure and the sense of well-being and response of gratitude to God.
But when you build this structure of maturity to its maximal point, and your super grace is overflowing, you'll find that the time lag is very
short.
Reversionism
The thing that interrupts this development of our inner happiness is reversionism. That always interrupts our rejoicing in the Lord. This is
the result of the neglect of feeding on the Word of God. Maybe you neglect it is because of somebody. One of the prime reasons we neglect the
Word of God is because of someone else. We get attached to someone who leads us away from the Word of God. Anytime someone does not ennoble
and dignify you in the Word of God, you should detach yourself from that person, because this will lead you inevitably to revisionism, and to
a great deal of unhappiness.
Or maybe you're negative toward the doctrine that you're taught. Some people are so immature that they can't sit in church very long and listen
to an explanation of the Bible. They can go the first few minutes, and then their eyes glaze out, and they begin sagging, and they're gone.
Sometimes, they've learned how to play their real poker face, and their eyes are still up here, but their brains are working down at the lake;
at the house they're going to build; or, at the room they're going to clean when they get home, because their attention span is short. Those
people are unhappy people. Anybody who cannot sit and be instructed in the Word of God for any period of time is an unhappy person, inevitably.
It takes spiritual maturity to be able to listen to instruction. Revisionism robs you of the mind of Christ, so you revert back to your natural
human viewpoint of unhappiness, and that's all that's in store for you.
You cannot maintain happiness on emotional kicks. This is the world's method, and a lot of Christians try to do it this way. These are
artificial gimmicks. Christians say, "I can be happy if I do certain things." One of the favorites is to get high on praising the Lord.
You'll find this constantly repeated in charismatic circles. I see this on charismatic television programs all the time – the constant
drumming away of, "You must learn to praise the Lord." That means to do certain things. "Learn to praise the Lord." Why? "Well, it will make
you so happy." How do I praise the Lord? "Well, I praise the Lord by holding my hands overhead while I pray. I swing and sway. Or I clap my
hands while I'm singing. That makes me happy. I really get high that way."
Or you get happy by closing your eyes and whispering things under
your breath. "Yes, Jesus. Oh, dear Jesus. Yes, wonderful Lord." And the more you whisper, the more impressive it is. That is a kick for a lot
of people. They feel that they have gotten to the Lord that way. Or you may pretend that you're surrounded with miracles of healing. That is
the greatest way to feel that you're really happy in the Lord. Remember that Pentecostals and charismatics go to church to get to be happy –
not to get to be unhappy.
I found that the sideshow circus performer (the old conman of them all) at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oral Roberts, is up to his old games again.
He no longer has his tent. He has a bigger and better facility to work in there now with his university. But I had a brochure this
past week in which you can send in for an alabaster vase of healing ointment, with full instructions on how to apply it in order to bring about
the healing that God has for you. He has cuff links now. He used to have to tie his cuffs together with straw and string. He wears a belt.
He is dignified. The money is there. The impression is there.
He even has the fawning of evangelicals who should know better than to condone
this kind of sideshow charlatanry and chicanery. But there it is. He has built a medical center, and he has put a big alabaster vase of oil
right in the center of the lobby. I read this and I shake my head and say, "This cannot be. This is 20th century America. We've quit running
around the fire with our witch doctors. We don't sell magic potions anymore. We had a revolution over that." Well, no we haven't quit it. After
200 years of the enlightened heritage of America, millions of people want to be happy. So they send for their alabaster vase of ointment,
personally researched as being in the exact shape that they were in Jesus' Day. You get a guarantee with that, that it is, and this is special
oil.
You're never going to find happiness that way. That is Satan's game. This is confusion, and it will deny you the inner happiness that God has
for you as a believer – this pretense game. What God says is, "I'm commanding you to be happy, and I'm explaining to you that I have given
you a canon of Scripture that has everything in it that will give you the most exhilarating experience and walk in life with Me, and fulfillment
that a human being has any capacity to realize, and to be able to carry, and you will get that as you take doctrine into your soul. As you are
fed upon the Word of God, the natural human viewpoint that you are born with is gradually replaced by divine viewpoint principles and concepts.
The result will be monumental joy in your life, and it will be detached from persons, circumstances, and things. And you will not lose it
anytime of the day or night. Whatever crises may come, there will immediately be the sense of well-being and of gratefulness to God.
Therefore, in verse 4, the apostle Paul says, "I command you in the Lord always (at all times) rejoice. Be happy. Have this sense of well-being."
Then he says, "Again," which is the Greek word "palin." "Palin" is a word that indicates a repetition. He says, "Again, I'm going to make it clear.
I want to tell you something else. Again I say." This is the word "lego." The word for "I say" is interesting because it is future. Paul is
saying, "I will say. I'm going to repeat it." He says, "I'm commanding you on the authority of God, that you people be happy in Philippi.
Furthermore, I'm going to say it to you again." So he puts it in the future: "I will say this again." It is active. This is Paul's choice to keep
Christians alert to the duty to be maintaining their inner happiness. It is indicative – a statement of fact. I am going to continue to do
it. To do what? To say, "Rejoice." This is the same word we had before, "chairo." It is present, active, and again imperative (a command).
Unhappiness
Unhappiness is a signal that you are not walking in the Lord. You may try to solve your unhappiness apart from the intake of the Word of God.
But if you do, the result will only be more unhappiness. What is the great enemy of happiness? This is what millions of Americans suffer from.
This is why people are unhappy. In some degree, all of us suffer from depression. The degree to which we permit this natural malady to take over
our minds is the degree to which you will be unhappy, and to which there will be a lack of joy in your life. This can be caused by people; by
pressures; or, by physical conditions.
Signs of Depression
Let's look, first of all, at the signs of depression or unhappiness.
Insomnia
One is erratic sleep patterns. This is a distinct mark (change) from your previous patterns of sleep. Insomnia is the first indication of
depression. I don't mean those of you who sleep all night; sleep all morning; and, toss and turn all afternoon. I mean a genuine case of
insomnia. You find a radical change. Maybe you're the kind who sleeps and wakes up, and sleeps and wakes up. That sort of thing may be normal
for you. But if it's a radical change from whatever your normal pattern of sleep is, that's the first sign.
Apathy
Secondly is apathy. You feel tired all the time. You wake up tired. You go around saying, "I think I was born tired, and never got rested up."
You can't enjoy the things you like. You're just apathetic.
Loss of Appetite
Next is loss of appetite. With a distinct loss of appetite, you don't feel like eating much. You lose your taste for eating. You notice that
when you meet a crisis in life, and you have a problem, that your normal immediate reaction is, "I don't feel like eating." What you are
experiencing is a mild state of depression. We'll look next time a little further at the stages of depression. You can have a mild stage,
which is a temporary passing thing, and not too bad, and everybody experiences it. Or you can have something that is very bad, and becomes very
chronic. But the loss of appetite is one of the first signs that you're having a mild siege of depression. As a matter of fact, your
appetite decreases in direct proportion to the severity of the depression.
Loss of Sex Drive
Another is the loss of the sex drive – a notable difference from normal patterns. This is because all normal physical functions become
disrupted. This is one of them that's indicative of a depressed state.
Unkempt Appearance
Another one is an unkempt appearance. This is because you have a negative self-image here while you're depressed. You don't think much of
yourself. Clothes tell a lot about what a person thinks of himself. Any time somebody goes round overdressed, it's a sure sign that that
person is suffering from an inferiority complex. People who are well-dressed indicate that they are satisfied with themselves. They like
themselves. A person who is sloppily dress is the one who has given up on himself. The unkempt appearance is because of his depressed
condition, because he doesn't care for himself. So he ends up reflecting that in the way he maintains his external appearance.
Physical Ailments
A sixth one is various physical ailments, which can be a variety of things: tiredness; a sense of weakness; dizziness; aching; heart
palpitations; feeling of tightness in the chest; hard breathing; headaches; sweating; or, stomach discomfort. All of these are physical
ailments, all of which are reflecting, externally and physically, that the individual is going through a series of depressive effects.
Emotional Signs
Then there are emotional signs.
Loss of Affection
Number one on that is loss of affection. That is a very definite sign of depression. You become withdrawn from
other people. Eventually, this person will not even care for himself. This whole thing stands because they've become preoccupied with themselves.
A person who is under a case of depression is occupied with himself. If you're occupied with Christ, you'll never have a case of depression of
any consequence.
Sadness
The second emotional sign is a sense of sadness; the absence of joy; and, the presence of gloom. Gloom becomes a way of life. If something nice
happens to you, it makes you unhappy. These are the people who find it hard to smile. As a matter of fact, the person who is under emotional
depression is just very gloomy, and very seldom smiles. He is actually resentful of people around him who are happy – people around him who
are enjoying life. The person who is suffering from depression and lack of functioning of his inner happiness resents it.
Weeping
Third is weeping – an involuntary tendency to cry. This is true of people who just ordinarily don't cry. They normally are not the weepy
kind, and suddenly, they're crying at the drop of a hat.
Hostility
Another emotional indication is hostility. Remember that anger always is present with depression. One of the signs that a person is suffering from
depression is that he's mad. He's an angry character. Anger always goes with depression. It's one of the key emotional signs. It goes from the
outward object, again, to being angry at oneself, because of the circumstance in which one has found himself for one reason or another. So the
hostility turns from an outward hostility, again, to an inward hostility.
Irritability
Another is irritability. Inactive people are passive by nature, so they are easily irritated by the active happy ones. They lash out at routine
situations – routine things that come up in life – things that just normally would be. Because they're irritable, they strike out at
them. You're sitting in the front room; the husband sneezes; and, the wife chews him out for spreading germs around the house. They are irritable
over natural routine things. They resent even the fact that people try to be nice to them. People try to be nice to them, and they become
irritable. They become resentful of that because they feel unworthy. That's why they're irritated by it.
Anxiety
Another sign is just anxiety; fear; worry; and, variations of those. Loneliness and despair increase your sense of fear. You are lonely. People
who are under a sense of depression are fearful people. They are afraid to be alone. They worry about everything simply because they are
depressed. They have a strange and strong apprehension about dying. That's one of their greatest fears, simply because they have depression
– the great enemy of inner happiness.
Hopelessness
One more is that a person who is under emotional depression has a sense of hopelessness. They feel trapped by circumstances. They can see no way
out. They look back on the past with a sense of rejection over their past and a sense of grief. They have a totally gloomy outlook on life, with
no hope in sight.
So what the apostle Paul is talking about is a very realistic experience that millions of Americans go through. It is indicated in these various
physical, external, and emotional ways. What they're going through is the lack of personal happiness. Personal happiness may elude them because
they, in the first place, are not believers, and they cannot be believers unless they receive Christ as personal Savior on the basis of the duty
of Jesus Christ, and then respond to the instruction in the Word of God in order to develop spiritual maturity within the soul, so that inner
happiness can be matured. Without inner happiness, there is no possibility of obeying this biblical command which says, "At all times; under all
conditions; with all people; in all circumstances; and, in all things, rejoice," because that can only be done in the Lord. That means in the
principles of the mind of Christ, which are recorded in the Word of God.
This subject is one of considerable more depth and concern to all of us, so we will look a little further next time at depression, and
particularly and specifically lining up what we can do about it in order to preserve ourselves from it, and keep it from going to its really
pathological stage.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1973
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