Tuesday; April 9

Honestly, we don’t like to discuss it out loud, but we live in an era when there are way too many suicides. I know, I know, one is too many; but one of the major American health concerns is people taking their own lives. While this is discouraging enough, when we consider how many people attempt suicide, we have a huge issue. This is often addressed a public health matter (which it is) but there is another consideration – it is also a spiritual health issue. I understand the presence of clinical depression in people and believe that it is at the root of a substantial number of deaths, but there is another aspect of this – discouragement and hopelessness. I know there are some things that can be done to assist people with significant mental and emotional health issues, but I also believe that religion can play a role in many others.

One of the struggles people cite as a reason for considering suicide is that they don’t want to live … but I wonder if there is a more complete answer. Could the problem be that they don’t want to live the way they are living? It’s not that they don’t like life, it is that they don’t like their lives! What would happen if we could help people find hope through a new or renewed life through Jesus? Jesus is the answer to people’s dilemma of no longer wanting to continue to live the way they have been living. Jesus observed, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) while Paul would promise, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (II Corinthians 5:17).

Let’s not wait to do psychological autopsy on someone who has taken their life, let’s seek to provide them with spiritual resuscitation before they take those first steps toward ending it all. When we do this, we can spend our time making a difference, not just mourning a loss.

Think About It!

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