Provocative title, right? You’d think a “Christian” blog wouldn’t contain such harsh ideas or thought, right? Wrong. Sometimes you need a smack in the face. I do.
We have an entire culture swirling around the toilet bowl as if somebody hit the big “flush” handle. There are few limits for what a prog will say to you or about you in front of your child, and zero restraint on the internet. The public schools are more concerned with helping 8yr olds determine their gender than the edification of anything else. Our fellow countrymen think their lives matter less on a daily basis. There is more hopelessness present than anytime in recorded history from what I can gather. For those of you upset with my blog post title? Get a grip.
I have gone back and forth since last night in swings of sorrow and anger. Initially, I’ll admit I was pretty darned somber. A friend of mine tried to kill himself yesterday. There’s no way to come at this softly. When people utter the phrase, “He tried to take his life,” I’m not sure they understand what they’re saying. A person can’t take their own life. They can end it of course, but they can’t take it from themselves. You can make the argument they can take the the lives of others, but not their own. In fact, I’ve heard it said, death takes life. I’m still wrestling with that concept, but only for a while. Why you ask? Because God takes death.
God takes death… So whatever the means of my physical end here on this wet rock, God has offered me a path beyond it. The toll for that ride was paid with the blood of Christ.
I’m a believer. I’m born again through Him. I know where I’m going. Therefor I should never have a worry or thought that could disturb me enough to consider stopping my beating heart. Right?
Wrong. This can happen to any one of us. Don’t for one split second think it can’t. It does. To many of us. Me included.
Satan stalks us all. He seeks to have us. We’re talking about a thing that doesn’t conform to rules. No regulation. No order. If you believe you’re immune to darkness, you’re willfully naive. This can happen to us all. And sincerely I place before you, a very high number of you have considered suicide. You may never consider it again. Then again, you might go through periods in life where you struggle with those thoughts routinely. We’re weak. There is no other description as simple of our condition. Weakness.
But… The weakness is a condition. Conditions always change. Whatever is black can become white. Granted, the gray will be a good portion of the journey between those two points, but I’m offering you the idea that whatever bad in your life that persists, can be treated, countered, improved up, or cast aside and proper self esteem known.
As I began writing this blog, I was laboring under the guise that I could make sense of suicidal thoughts. My naivete got the better of me. I feverishly pound this keyboard at 70 words per minute and my thoughts, can and often do, change over a period of time. It occurs to me I don’t have a magical phrase or witty utterance that will help the masses overcome that which draws them under. I could write “Jesus Saves” a hundred times, and while I’d be right in that assertion, I question just how much that phrase, written in text on a blog few read, will help people like my friend. I wonder if it does any Earthly good at all.
The truth is, we make those remarks because it makes us feel better about things. They’re true and we’re compelled to say them. We may even communicate that idea over to others with great conviction. But, just like always, I have James 2:14-17 bouncing around in my head. That particular verse is a favorite, all while plaguing me.
We can have all the faith in the world, but when we don’t act, we’re impoverished. …And not just ourselves, but others.
How disconnected must one be to call up your wife after she’s served you with divorce papers, begin a video chat, put a gun in your mouth, and pull the trigger? Were there no supports in his life? Did he have nobody who cared for him? Where is the love he should have felt from others?
The relationships present in a church family are supposed to transcend, and yes I do mean transcend, contemplations of this magnitude. Our tethers are to be strong. Strong enough to overcome momentary vulnerabilities. We’re fragile by ourselves too often, but together with a church family guided by His Word, we overcome the darkness. …And in order for a church family to have value, you must participate. You must engage. You must share Him and grow church family – whether yours or another’s.
The notion that some minds are addled with chemicals in their bodies that are truly out of balance isn’t lost on me. I encourage people to seek treatment from qualified doctors for this. I’m speaking from the perspective of caring and sharing. If you can’t prove to anyone you meet, simply by how you carry yourself, that you care for them, you’re in trouble. I know – I used to be in trouble. If you’re not prepared to share Him, then get that way. Sometimes all you need to do is point out a Christ-like action by someone. Anyone. Then ask if the other person is interested in hearing the short story that lead to your transformation.
I want to believe, and so do you, in a God of love that helps us all by virtue of being here. That requires us first to recognize He is present. Then the conduct in which we execute our daily lives should reflect Him. When we do those things coupled with the caring and sharing, we impact lives. We counter the darkness. We help people and we show them love.
I want also to believe the more we work on ourselves, engage our church families, care, and share, the less people will stop their own beating hearts.
This will be my prayer today…