Temperament and Spiritual Depression

Martyn Lloyd-Jones offers a fine distinction for pastors to consider:

But while I emphasize, with all my being, the fact that temperament does not make the slightest difference in the matter of our fundamental salvation, I am equally anxious to emphasize the fact that it does make a very great difference in actual experience in the Christian life, and that when you are trying to diagnose a condition such as that of spiritual depression, it is something with which you should start, it is something to put at the very beginning (14).

Lloyd-Jones then adds that the “manifestations of the trouble vary from case to case and from person to person.” When counseling there is not a one-size fits all. Though there are general principles that are applied to all, Christians are not identical, and “they are not even meant to be.” Different temperaments require unique counseling guidance.

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