April 30 Daily Devotional

And shall we then forever live
At this poor dying rate?

It is difficult to describe this man (Mark 8:24). You cannot say that he is blind any longer. What then—is he or is he not blind? You feel that you have to say at one and the same time that he is blind and that he is not blind. He is neither one thing nor the other.

Now that is precisely the condition with which I am anxious to deal at the moment. I am concerned about those Christians who are disquieted and unhappy and miserable because of this lack of clarity. It is almost impossible to define them. You sometimes talk to this type and you think: "This man is a Christian." And then you meet him again and you are thrown into doubt at once and you say: "Surely he cannot be a Christian if he can say a thing like that or do such a thing as that."

... Furthermore, the difficulty is that not only do others feel like this about these people; they feel it about themselves; ... they are unhappy because they are not clear about themselves. Sometimes when they have been in a service, they will say: "Yes, I am a Christian; I believe this." Then something happens and they say: "I cannot be a Christian. If I were a Christian, I could not have such thoughts. I would not want to do the things I do." ...

They seem to know enough about Christianity to spoil their enjoyment of the world, and yet they do not know enough to feel happy about themselves. They are "neither hot nor cold." They see and yet they do not see.... It is a distressing condition, and my whole message, as you may anticipate, is to say that nobody should be in it; and nobody should stay in it.

I go still further—nobody need stay in that condition.

Spiritual Depression, pp. 39-40

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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