Preaching to Yourself

Several years ago, I read a book by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones named Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. (In our age of widespread use of psychiatric drugs to combat depression, the title of this book is somewhat unfortunate. If you have a conditioned impulse to react with doubt when you see the word depression, disengage that impulse when you approach the subject of Lloyd-Jones’ book. That is not what this book is about, and it was originally published in 1965, long before the day Prozac and similar drugs became so common in our culture.) I remember being somewhat surprised by the way the first chapter of Lloyd-Jones’ book ended. Let me give you the sense of it:

I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? … The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. … The essence of this matter is to understand that this self of ours, this other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him; condemn him; upbraid him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you. (pp. 20-21)

Does that surprise you like it did me? Here is the beloved preacher declaring that one of the big causes of spiritual depression is that we listen to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. That is, we allow ourselves to be influenced by thoughts and accusations that come either from our own mind or from the accuser, rather than purposefully speaking truth to ourselves. The difference may appear somewhat subtle, but it is an important distinction. It is a distinction between passivity and pro-activity.

There is a short phrase in the Lloyd-Jones quote above that must not be missed if you are to profit from the discipline of talking to yourself rather than listening to yourself. It is this: “remind him of what you know.” In other words, simply talking to yourself is not going to be sufficient if the things you are talking to yourself about are the latest episode of The Simpsons or what you remember about the last time you played your favorite video game. No, you must speak Truth to yourself. Also, don’t fall into the trap of believing that this practice is only of value to those who are spiritually “depressed.” Not only is the constant application of truth to your life the cure for this malady, it is also the preventive practice, that which will protect your spirit from error.