Suicide

                I was once in the position where I had kids teasing me and telling me to kill myself. My only safe haven was the comfort of my family and the love of God. He protected me and guarded me.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

-1 Corinthians 6:19-20

                A problem that is becoming more and more prominent is suicide. Suicide is not a new or radical idea. The Bible itself records seven suicides, including that of Judas. Suicide is a very troubling topic. God does not want us to kill ourselves. As a matter of fact, it is a sin to kill yourself. We are the body of Christ. Christ lives in us and we are to be a temple for Him. When we accepted Christ as our savior we surrendered our lives to Him; we told Him to do as He pleases. If we kill ourselves, we are not glorifying God. God does not bring death. Rather, He brings life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”

-Romans 6:23

                John 10:10 tells us that the enemy brings death, but with Christ comes life and life alone. Death and destruction are the work of Satan and God says that He does not want anyone to perish. Some people continue to say that they deserve pain and death and that is why they self-harm or attempt suicide. No one deserves that though. God is the ultimate avenger and will avenge someone when He feels necessary (Romans 12:19). If you feel this way, that is just demons attacking you. Don’t let them overtake and control your emotions and thoughts…your life. Christ already paid for your sins and if you have Christ as your savior, you don’t have to pay for your sins through your own blood. Your old person died with Christ. You are resurrected and made alive with Christ.

Think you’re joking when you tell someone to kill themselves? It’s not something to joke about. You never know how hard it can hit someone. And if you have Christ as you’re savior, these are the people you should be reaching out to. The outcast who has no one to talk to. The one who everyone bullies day in and day out. The one who feels like they don’t have a way out. You should be showing the love of Christ so that they would have that desire to have God. Christ is supposed to live in you and if you are constantly being negative towards other people, you’re not letting Christ work through you. Galatians 6:2 tells us that if we bear one another’s’ burdens we are fulfilling the law of Christ. Therefore, you can’t fulfill the law of Christ if you are bringing others down.

Want to kill yourself? Imagine this. You come home from school one day. You’ve had yet another horrible day. You’re just ready to give up. So you go to your room, close the door, and take out that suicide note you’ve written and rewritten over and over and over. You take out your razor blades, and cut for the very last time. You grab that bottle of pills and take them all. Laying down, holding the letter, you close your eyes for the very last time. A few hours later, your little brother knocks on your door to come tell you dinners ready. You don’t answer, so he walks in. All he sees is you lying on your bed, so he thinks you’re asleep. He tells your mom. Your mom goes to your room to wake you up. She notices something is odd. She grabs the paper in your hand and reads it. Sobbing, she tries to wake you up. She’s screaming your name. Your brother, so confused, runs to go tell your dad that “Mommy is crying and sissy won’t wake up.” Your dad runs to your room. He looks at your mom, who is crying, holding the letter to her chest, sitting next to your lifeless body. It hits him. He realizes what’s going on and he screams. He screams and throws something at the wall. And then, falling to his knees, he starts to cry. Your mom crawls over to him, and they sit there, holding each other, crying. The next day at school, there’s an announcement. The principal tells everyone about your suicide. It takes a few seconds for it to sink in, and once it does, everyone goes silent. Everyone blames themselves. Your teachers think they were too hard on you. Those mean popular girls, they think of all the things they’ve said to you. That boy that used to tease you and call you names, he can’t help but hate himself for never telling you how beautiful you really are. Your ex-boyfriend, the one that you told everything to, that broke up with you...he can’t handle it. He breaks down and starts crying, and runs out of the school. Your friends? They’re sobbing too, wondering how they could never see that anything was wrong, and wishing they could have helped you before it was too late. And your best friend? She’s in shock. She can’t believe it. She knew what you were going through, but she never thought it would get that bad…bad enough for you to end it. She can’t cry; she can’t feel anything. She’s numb. She stands up, walks out of the classroom, and just sinks to the floor. Shaking, screaming, but no tears coming out. It’s a few days later, at your funeral. The whole town came. Everyone knew you, that girl with the bright smile and bubbly personality. The one that was always there for them, the shoulder to cry on. Lots of people talk about all the good memories they had with you, there were a lot. Everyone’s crying, your little brother still doesn’t know you killed yourself, he’s too young. Your parents just said you died. It hurts him, a lot. You were his big sister, you were supposed to always be there for him. Your best friend, she stays strong through the entire service, but as soon as they start lowering your casket into the ground, she just loses it. She cries and cries and doesn’t stop for days. It’s two years later. The whole school talks to a counselor/therapist at least once a week. Your teachers all quit their job. Those mean girls have eating disorders now. That boy that used to tease you cuts himself. Your ex-boyfriend doesn’t know how to love anymore and just sleeps around with girls. Your friends all go into depression. Your best friend? She tried to kill herself. She didn’t succeed like you did, but she tried…your brother? He finally found out the truth about your death. He self-harms, he cries at night, he does exactly what you did for years leading up to your suicide. Your parents? Their marriage fell apart. Your dad became a workaholic to distract himself from your death. Your mom got diagnosed with depression and just lies in bed all day. People care. You may not think so, but they do. Your choices don’t just affect you. They affect everyone. Don’t end your life; you have so much to live for. Things can’t get better if you give up. I’m here for absolutely anyone that needs to talk, no matter who you are. 

Revenge

“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written:

‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

-Romans 12:19

                As humans we tend to be impatient and take certain matters into our own hands. When we get angry at someone, we try to take revenge-something that isn’t our duty to do. When we try to avenge what someone did to us or to someone we cared deeply for, we are taking away one of God’s rights and giving it to ourselves. When we are angry, and attempt to avenge ourselves, we should remember, therefore, that we are infringing on the prerogatives of the Almighty.

                To "avenge" is to take satisfaction for an injury by inflicting punishment on the offender. To take such satisfaction for injuries done to society, is lawful and proper for a magistrate; Romans 13:4. And to take satisfaction for injuries done by sin to the universe is the province of God. But the apostle here is addressing private individual Christians. And the command is, to avoid a spirit and purpose of revenge. But this command is not to be so understood that we may not seek for "justice" in a regular and proper way before civil tribunals. If we are forced to go against our faith, if we are oppressed contrary to the law of the land, religion does not require us to submit to such oppression and injury without seeking our rights in an orderly and regular manner. If it did, it would be to give a premium to iniquity, to countenance wickedness, and require a man, by becoming a Christian, to abandon his rights.

“Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of

the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

-Isaiah 1:17

                Besides, there is a leader who is appointed for the praise of those who do well, and to punish evil-doers(…or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right; 1 Peter 2:14). Further, our Lord Jesus did not surrender his rights to man. The command here "to leave room for God’s wrath" means, that we are not to take it out of the hands of God, or the hands of the law, and to inflict it ourselves. It is well known that where there are no laws, vengeance is pursued by individuals in a barbarous and unrelenting manner. In a state of savage society, vengeance is "immediately taken," if possible, or it is pursued for years, and the offended man is never satisfied until he has covered his hands in the blood of the offender. But Christianity seeks the authority of the laws; and in cases which do not admit or require the interference of the laws, in private assaults and quarrels, it demands that we bear injury with patience, and commit our cause unto God. To "leave room," then, is to leave it for God to come in and execute wrath or vengeance on the enemy. Do not execute wrath; leave it to God and commit all to him; leave yourself and your enemy in his hands, assured that he will vindicate you and punish him. Psalm 140 is a great example of giving the punishment of oppressors to the Lord.

“Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil men

preserve me from men of violence;

who devise evil plans in their hearts

and stir up war every day.

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;

the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

protect me from the men of violence

who plan to trip my feet.

Proud men have hidden a snare for me;

they have spread out the cords of their net

and have set traps for me along my path.

O Lord, I say to you, ‘You are my God.’

Hear, O Lord, my cry for mercy.

O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,

who shields my head in the day of battle­—

do not grant the wicked their desires, O Lord;

do not let their plans succeed,

or they will become proud.

Let the heads of those who surround me

be covered with the trouble their lips have caused.

Let burning coals fall upon them;

may they be thrown into the fire,

into miry pits never to rise.

Let slanderers not be established in the land;

may disaster hunt down men of violence.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor

and upholds the cause of the needy.

Surely the righteous will praise your name

and the upright will live before you.”

-Psalm 140

               

                Deuteronomy 32:35-43 declares that the Lord will take vengeance upon those who deserve it. Its design is to assure us that those who deserve to be punished shall be and those who deserve to be vindicated will be; and that, therefore, the business of revenge may be safely left in the hands of God. Though "we" should not do it, yet if it ought to be done, it will be done. This assurance will sustain as, not in the "desire" that our enemy shall be punished, but in the belief that "God" will take the matter into his own hands; that he can administer it better than we can; and that if our enemy "ought" to be punished, he will be. "We," therefore, should leave it all with God. It may take a day or it may take several years, for the person who oppressed you to receive their just punishment, but patience and trust in God is key.

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people,

but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

-Leviticus 19:18

“Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants;

he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.”

-Deuteronomy 32:43

“God is jealous, and the Lord revenges; the Lord revenges, and is furious; the Lord will take

 vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies”

-Nahum 1:2

  

 

               

The Potter of Our Lives

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there

I will give you my message.’ So I went to the potter’s house, and I saw him

working on the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his

hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

-Jeremiah 18:1-4

                Just as a potter shapes the clay, God shapes our lives. In the end, He makes the decisions and helps control the outcome. He can destroy us if we commit sins against Him or He can pour blessings upon us if we are righteous. We may see darkness in a certain time of our lives, but He sees the beauty that will come out of it and He never leaves us. We may mess up and make mistakes, but in the end, His plan prevails.

“You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”

-Psalm 18:27

                Some people say that God does not exist. But that does not remove Him from their lives. Instead of continually pouring out blessings on them, He will eventually cause some sort of tragedy or unpleasing event to occur in their lives. If someone has many riches on this earth, and not in heaven, He can take all of their possessions away from them so they can experience what poverty is. He can make an atheist experience a disaster, so that they turn to Him and come to have faith in Him.

                But not all bad things occur because of sin. Maybe God wants you to change your job or workplace but you don’t want that change. He might make you lose that job or cause drama at the workplace so that you will want to get that job change. It’s not because He’s trying to control your life; it’s because He knows what’s best for you and needs you at certain places to do His work. He wants you to aim high so that you have an effect on others. Each person is called to their own mountain to be a light. When someone takes their part on that mountain and line up with God, they are the priesthood that God has chosen to change that environment to line up with God’s work.

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

-Psalm 18:16-19

                Maybe you recently broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, someone you thought you would spend the rest of your life with. God didn’t cause this to happen to break your heart or bring depression. Maybe He did it because maybe they weren’t really the person and He has someone out there that He needs you to be with. There could be someone who doesn’t believe in Him or has a wavering faith and He needs you to be there for them and support them; show them God’s love and maybe be an answer to a lonely person’s prayer. Maybe He did it because God wasn’t at the center of the relationship and He wants you to grow your relationship with Him first. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t meant to bring harm upon you. God never brings harm or destruction to those He loves just get pleasure out of it; He does it to teach a lesson or use them for His plans. It is God shaping your life.

                Sometimes God wants us to experience a certain hardship so that when we prevail and win victory over it, we can witness to others and maybe help someone who is or will be experiencing that same hardship. For instance, when I first ended a relationship with my ex-boyfriend, I was devastated felt it was a punishment. Sure, maybe it was because God wasn’t at the center of the relationship. But three months later, a friend of mine suffered the same thing, with almost the same exact details and events. I was able to be there and lift her up in the Lord. God used me to keep peace in her heart.

                Sure, we do have the freedom to do what we want, but we need to know the consequences for certain actions and we need to live according to God’s will for us. Each person’s will is different and we shouldn’t try to live like anyone besides Jesus.