So you want to end your life. Well, you’re not alone. Suicide is the #2 cause of death for ages 10-34 in the USA, with an average of 130 people killing themselves every day. It’s even worse in Europe which holds the highest rates of suicide in the world.
Perhaps you intend to end your life today. Let this be a final plea to reconsider.
Here are 5 reasons why you should not kill yourself.
Reason #1 – Your Life Is Not Your Own
It is incorrect to say that you are ending “your “ life. This implies that you own your life, that you decide when you live and die. Since you did not choose to be born, likewise, you ought not to decide when you will die.
Your life is given to you by God. You are merely a steward of your body, mind and resources.
The first reason why you should not commit suicide is because you do not have the authority or right to end your life. To do so is a crime, and one against God Himself.
Reason #2 – There Will Be Justice
Your desire to kill yourself is really hatred towards God who has given you life. Perhaps you have already attempted suicide and God was merciful enough to restrain your attempts and spare your life.
Your desire to end your life is in reality your desire to hate God. God is just and will repay all those who do evil.
This is both comforting and terrifying. It is comforting because if you are a victim of abuse or injustice you can have peace knowing that no crime will escape God’s ultimate notice and justice. This is also terrifying because both you and I have committed crimes against God and deserve His just punishment.
Jesus clearly describes that all murders will have their part in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). Suicide is self-murder.
The second reason why you should not kill yourself is because God will give you justice if you follow through with your desire to murder yourself.
Reasons #3 – Your Emotions Pwn You
Emotions are fickle and can be swayed easily by many factors, including diet, fatigue and environment.
Your emotional desire for death is not unique. Everyone at some stage suffers horribly (1 Corinthians 10:13), yet despite this, many who have endured great evils such as molestation, rape, abandonment, torture, and more, have nevertheless persevered through those afflictions.
Consider Jesus who was abandoned by his closest friends, stripped naked, flogged, had His beard ripped off, had a crown of thorns embedded into his skull, carried a heavy, splintery cross, was nailed to that cross and then lifted up for all his foes to ridicule Him and throw vinegar in his open wounds when thirsting.
Are your emotions reasonable in light of Christ’s afflictions, who being innocent, suffered greatly to die on behalf of His people to make ransom for their crimes?
Will the death of Christ not suffice?
The third reason why you should not kill yourself is because your desire to do so is not reasonable.
Reason #4 – Others Need You
Life is not all about you. There are others in this world that need you. You might not even know the people that need you yet. You may doubt at this moment that you would ever be valuable to anyone, but you’re wrong. Your experiences and skills could help someone in the future.
Perhaps you think you deserve to die because of something you have done. Don’t we all? Is this not why Christ had to come into the world and die a sinner’s death?
Your times are in God’s hands, if He desired your death then you would be dead already. The fact you still draw breath gives you reason to assume God is not done with you yet.
“…Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
The fourth reason why you should not kill yourself is because you are still here for a reason.
Reason #5 – Suicide Is A Lie
Suicide promises a lie. It promises rest, pleasure, vengeance, control, and ultimately, satisfaction. It teases you with painless fantasies. None of this is true. Sin always promises something it can’t deliver. Suicide will not end your problems, it will only pass them on to someone else.
Only by seeking God will you find rest for your soul and peace about your circumstances. Reality is God-focused, and everything exists for Him and for His purposes, not yours.
Suicide is a vain attempt to make yourself God, whereby you determine when you die and the circumstances around your death.
When you buy into the lie, it’s your soul that you sell.
The fifth and final reason why you should not kill yourself is because suicide will not deliver what it promises you. To embrace suicide is to embrace a lie.
Sound & Fury
Macbeth is a tale about a man who is driven to madness through his lust for power, his desire to be god-like and be a king. This is the conclusion he reached about life once hearing that his wife had killed herself:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17–28)
Is life just sound and fury signifying nothing? In the words of William Ernest Henley’s Invictus, are you “the master of your fate… the captain of your soul”?
How is that working out for you?
Perhaps your circumstances don’t need to change, but your perspective.
Consider the following:
- Jesus is the apex of purpose. To reject Jesus is to be lost.
- Jesus is the epitome of logic. To reject Jesus is to embrace madness.
- Jesus is the hope of life. To reject Jesus is to be overcome by death’s hopelessness.
If you sow into the wind, you will indeed reap the whirlwind. Don’t kill yourself, pwn suicide by coming to Christ.
