DESPAIR When a person is in real despair, he is totally convinced of his unworthiness and has no hope whatsoever. Every effort to change his emotions or situation ceases. The person becomes devoid of the feelings of love--love from others, love from self, and love from God. Please do not confuse depression with despair. There is a major difference: you have a loss of LOVE with despair that is not associated with depression. Depression can be clinical--due to emotional stresses or physical imbalances. Despair is not a sadness but rather an intense void, where you are convinced that God has abandoned you, that He doesnt love you anymore and no one does, that even you believe that you have no worth whatsoever as a child of God. The Random House College Dictionary defines despair as: loss of hope; hopelessness; to lose, give up, or be without hope. They also define depression as: dejection; sadness; gloom; downcast; lowered spirits; lower in force, vigor or activity. I personally think that people use words such as sad or depressed or despairing interchangeably, and they should not be. While the actual definitions of the words have not changed, their connotations have over time. How many times have you heard yourself or others say that they are giving up? Or that Gods forgotten them? Or that theres no hope? Usually, we are just venting our frustrations, and most of us pull ourselves out of these feelings with or without help from others or God. And I dont believe that this is the type of DESPAIR that is the unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit. Above all else, God wants us to come to Him and ask for forgiveness, accept His forgiveness, and make every effort to not sin again. When a person is in real despair, they do not go to God for forgiveness. They do not believe that God will forgive them. If they died in a state of true despair, God would want to forgive them if they would just ask Him for it. But they wont, and that is what condemns them. Even if He would forgive the person in true despair without the person asking for His mercy, he would reject His forgiveness because he believes himself too unworthy. This would condemn him. If God would open His pearly gates to welcome this true despairer, he would walk away and reject Paradise.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 19:46:49 +0000
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