A couple nights ago I was reading some homework on a computer in the basement lab. A girl came in and started with a friend about someone she knew from high school that had just committed suicide earlier that day.
When I was younger I remember talking with a neighbor kid about the house down the street where a young guy had shot himself. "The picture of the EMTs rolling out his body on a stretcher is still so vivid."
I knew someone in high school that often spoke of his frustrations...parents, school, bitters words, words armed with pain and hurt, spoken to him from friends, family strangers. He mentioned thoughts of suicide. I could not stop thinking about his circumstance for months. Could I have spoken those words? Was it my actions that cut him so deeply? What if it was I that was the last drop in the cup to make it overflow? The breaking point.
There are others as well I have heard of...that we know of...similar feelings, similart circumstances, lack of hope or hope lost, those who we unknowingly have those same thoughts.
Sobering.
Psalms
39:7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.
43:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
71:5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.
116: Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.
24:14 Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Romans
5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
8:24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
I CORINTHIANS
13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I find it interesting that the greatest of these is love, significant. Should we not believe that if we express love and share love with eachother that it will foster faith and hope as well? And then this question is answered in Colossians.
COLOSSIANS
1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
23: if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
EPHESIANS
1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.
HEBREWS
3:6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
6:11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
I PETER
1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
13: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
21: Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Suicide Causes(www.suicide.org)
by Kevin Caruso
Over 90 percent of people who die by suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death.
And the most common mental illness is depression.
Untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide
Depression and hopelessness. What influence do we have on these things. I have often considered how terrifying it would be to not believe in anything. No God, nothing after death, no purpose. How could I live with out purpose?
How can my faith not convict me? How could I let myself be silent? If I believe this to be true, we must speak the truth!
Isaiah 43
Let all the nations gather together, let the peoples assemble! Who among them could have revealed this, or foretold to us the earlier things? Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right, that one may hear and say, "It is true!"
You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servants whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that it is I. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none.
It is I, I the LORD; there is no savior but me.
It is I who foretold, I who saved; I made it known, not any strange god among you; You are my witnesses, says the LORD. I am God,
yes, from eternity I am He; There is none who can deliver from my hand: who can countermand what I do?
In one of my courses we recently discussed the word Martyr...it literally means witness. I beg of you. Be a witness. Give your account of the work of Christ. Your witness is the truth that plants hope in a person's life. Do not allow assumptions of what people want to hear hinder you from speaking the truth that people need to hear. "You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth." Acts1:8 So how did you hear about it? Let your convitions be evident.
