Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. (Jonah 4:3) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Two things will never ever work: suicide and atheism. The reason for this is that you can never escape the two things that both suicide and atheism are trying to escape: yourself and God. You will always be you and have to live with yourself, and God is everywhere and inescapable. Suicide is the wish to rid yourself of yourself. When you, or the pain and despair that you have become is so bad you reach the point where you wish you no longer existed. But you will always exist. This is what makes Hell so terrifyingly bad. There is no escaping from yourself. The thing you hate will be with you forever. The same is true of God. He is unavoidable. What also makes Hell so bad is that the God you have come to hate is always present in His perfect justice. Suicide and atheism are both irrational and desperate attempts to avoid the unavoidable – both with horrific consequences. Wonderfully, the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us an amazing way out. First of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us the opportunity to put to death what is so loathsome in us. The call of Jesus Christ is a call to die to ourselves. In Jesus Christ, by the help of the Holy Spirit working within us, we are killing our old selves and a new self is being created in the image of the Lovely Jesus Christ. What we most love and admire about Him, we are becoming! This happens slowly and at times we can’t even see it, but it is still happening! In eternity we will reach that wonderful goal. Then, when we reach that goal, living with ourselves as we will then be, will be a joy and a delight. As for God, the gospel of Jesus Christ reconciles us to Him. He becomes our Friend, Father, Joy and Eternal Delight. It will take all of eternity to feast on all the good things He is to us. The sum of all that He is to us is love. He loved us and gave Himself for us. And for all eternity, instead of hating ourselves or hating Him, we will be the subjects and objects of eternal love! PRAY and thank God that He loved us when we didn’t love Him. Thank Him that He loves us more than we love ourselves. Ask Him to help you put your old self to death and to live in such a way that it is no longer you who live but Christ living in you!