For Christians Who Want to Die
Often times, as Christians, we want to die. We may not express this out loud to too many people, but it is there nonetheless. The guilt that we feel for wanting to die makes us want to dieeven more. How can we, as Christians, with the joy, joy, joy down in our hearts feel this way?
However, this feeling is not necessarily a bad thing. More often than not, it comes from an intimate experience with sin, both from the outside and from in our hearts. This creates a yearning for something more; a call within our hearts for perfection that drives us far away from the effects of the fall. These deathly feelings can stem from our greatest desire: the completion of our salvation.
There are many people in the Scriptures who wanted to die. Samson, Job, Elijah, and even Paul expresses a desire to go to be with the Lord rather than staying here on the earth:
2 Cor. 5:8
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
As well, I see this is the main theme of the witness of the Spirit in Romans chapter 8. We cry out to God joining with creation in a longing for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom. We long for the absence of sin so much that there is a moaning too deep for words that comes from our spirit. This often translates into thoughts of death.
However, we don’t kill ourselves. We push forward in a difficult life because we know it’s right. We know we have a mission of suffering and endurance. But this does not mean we will always like it.
