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. 

Predestiny

                A major problem that I’ve been hearing lately is the idea of predestination. So many people I know, including Christians, believe that people are chosen before they are born to go to heaven or hell. This keeps people from having a relationship with God because they feel that no matter what, they can’t help where they end up after death. They believe that salvation is given only to chosen people and that the elect will come to have faith and believe until the end.

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan

of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order

 that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

-Ephesians 1:11-12

                A lot of people take this verse as confirmation that there is undoubtedly predestination. However, what God means is that He chose them to have certain spiritual gifts. He chose the disciples and He chose the apostles. He has a plan for each and every one of us to do His works; we just need to accept the duty and responsibility. Also, the next verse contradicts the idea of predestination.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word

of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.”

-Ephesians 1:13

                This verse declares that those who hear the Word and believe in it will receive salvation and a place in heaven. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 talks about the people of Israel being the chosen people. This doesn’t mean that they are the only ones permitted in heaven. What this means is that they have a special ranking in Heaven (see Revelation 7).

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God

did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does

not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed

in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

John 3:16-18

                No one is excluded from having everlasting life in heaven. All who believe will see the kingdom and reside in it! God loves each and every person that has ever walked this earth. He does not choose to send anyone to hell; He did everything to save us. He sent His only Son to perish for us. He became like us to be a sacrifice for us. He remained compassionate while Israel was arrogant and judgmental. The Bible tells us that whoever confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Christ and commits their life to God will receive life in heaven. We are told that we have our own will. Therefore, we are not predestined.

                Don’t be convinced that you can’t help set the way for where you will end up after death. One thing is, you are on a predetermined course. But you don’t have a predetermined destination. The course that you take, can have detours based on your decisions and if you stray from God's will, and so does your destination. Satan is not omnipotent or omnipresent. He can only attack you every now and then, putting thoughts in your head for short moments, hoping that those thoughts will turn you from God. So don’t let him convince you that you’re either set to go to heaven or hell. YOU make your own decisions and if you love God and live by His word than you are going to heaven. If you disobey God, then you are on a wide path to the lake of fire. You are not Satan’s to have-you are God’s. So live your life for Him and know that your destination is not predestined.

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.