My wife was watching a Church service on You Tube and the Preacher mentioned that a Pastor had committed suicide and it shocked everyone, including her. She wondered if he had gone to hell. I said there is no way for us to know his heart or state of mind when he died, and we are not his judge. I mentioned that our Pastor wasn’t as sure that suicide would send a person to hell, but I wouldn’t want my eternity to depend on that uncertainty. Out of compassion she asked if we should pray for him, but I said he is either in heaven or hell and that won’t change.
How can you talk about eternity with such certainty? Because the Bible is the final word on the subject. JESUS, who is the WORD (John 1:14) said “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 KJV) and “wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 7:13-14 KJV). JESUS also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 KJV).
What can we do about that man who died? We should use his tragedy to motivate us to reach the living who still have hope! But that won’t help the man who died! We can neither help nor hurt him, but we can use his tragic ending to remind us how final eternity is and how close we might be. When you talk to someone, treat them like they were one step away from heaven or hell and you were their last chance to be saved. It will change your witness and it will change your own attitude. Maybe that’s why JESUS said the most important commandment is to “love the Lord thy God with all” and “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mat 22:37 and 39 KJV). Your witness and the HOLY SPIRIT working through you, may be the difference between them and eternal damnation or eternal life!
Specifically, we should pray for, encourage, support, and love our Pastors. They are in positions of authority, but also under attack by the same thief that “cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10 KJV) who attacks us. Too often, while the Pastor is defending and encouraging us, he can become wounded, discouraged, and vulnerable himself. Don’t let your Pastor be the next casualty, cover him with prayer!
All this is possible because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17 KJV).
Wayne Lance – That’s Good News to Share!