When one loses hope, Part 2

T his is the second part of a three-part series on the issue of suicide.

Have you heard someone say, “Anyone who commits suicide goes to hell.” These and other comments like this lack in Biblical understanding, are judgmental and clearly misunderstand the character and love of God.

The English word “Grace” comes from the Greek word “Charis” meaning “favor, blessing or kindness.” When a family experiences the suicide of a loved one, this is the time for grace to be poured into and upon the family and friends. Condemning, second-guessing, and judging one’s actions adds nothing but more emotional pain and sorrow.

What should be a Christian’s view and reaction to suicide and to the one who loses his or her life to suicide and remaining family and friends? Allow me to share Scripture to establish a foundation we can use to address the issue of suicide and those who suffer the unending pain and questions when a family member or friend takes their own life.

God has not created anyone to go to hell. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

God did not create hell for humans, but for the devil and the angels who rebelled in heaven (Matthew 25:41). However, the choice between heaven and hell is left to us to decide. It is by rejecting Jesus Christ and His forgiveness for our sin that we enter hell (2 Peter 2:4-9). God, because of His love for all people, sent His Son Jesus to earth to redeem us from the penalty (death and hell) for our sin. We read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God is about life.

God knows the human heart. Each of us have sinned, we have inclinations and yearnings for pleasure, selfishness, and a desire to escape trouble, worry and fears. We often run away or try to escape from our trouble and like the prophet Elijah learned (1 Kings 19), our troubles are always with us. The door to suicide opens deceitfully easy when one is faced with unrelenting troubles, feelings of rejection, failure, or self-destructive thoughts.

God said, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:9-10). God knows us better than we know ourselves. God and only God knows our desires, intentions, thoughts, will, and our future.

Jesus said, “any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man (Jesus), it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32). Jesus said the only unforgivable sin is, “blasphemy against the Spirit.”

Every sin is forgivable and can be covered by the blood of Jesus, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

How humans judge and how God judges are very different. We read, “But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). God is the only one who knows the heart of the one who has lost hope and fallen to suicide.

It is important to hold our judgment and criticism of others. Jesus said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).

We do not have the ability to “know” a person’s heart, so why do we condemn someone for losing hope and committing suicide?

We cannot know their internal pain, the unanswered questions, feelings of hopelessness, despair, of being lost in a world that is confusing and harsh. Sadly, the harshest place to be all too often is inside the walls of a church.

Judging belongs exclusively to God. Our focus should be on the family and friends who remain and to be a friend, to listen and not judge, to encourage and not condemn, to help and not cause further pain by careless and thoughtless words.

In the many funerals I have conducted for those who lost their battle to suicide, I always quote from the one verse that gives me immense hope, strength, and faith. We read, “… but where sin is great, grace is greater” (Romans 5:20).

What sin is greater than God’s grace? If God’s grace does not cover suicide what other sins are not covered by God’s grace and Jesus’ blood on the Cross?

God’s grace is greater than all our sin or it is not.

Either God forgives or He does not. I know that we try to answer the unanswerable questions that arise from a suicide – simply said, there are no answers that can satisfy this side of heaven.

I do know that God’s grace and forgiveness is available to all and this includes those who have lost hope and those who died by suicide.

If we trust God for our salvation, we can trust Him for one overtaken in despair. We can trust God to make a righteous judgment of every person because He is righteous, holy, gracious, perfect, and we are not.

Clayton Adams, West Memphis, AR email: claytonpadamslll@gmail.com.

Clayton Adams