REASON TO LIVE

When Charlie, a church leader, found out he had a fatal disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob, he wrote the following message: “What does a Christian do . . . when the doctors have told him that his disease is destroying his brain, and that his whole personality may be warped? . . . After two days of self- searching, it comes to me that ultimately and finally Christians are to always view life as a gift from God . . . and it is not ours to smash.”

Charlie decided that suicide was out of the question because of his deep trust in the God who “created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (PSALM 139:13) and who planned our days in His book (V.16). But he still asked God to bring him quickly to heaven. God answered Charlie’s prayer, and he died a short while later.

Job faced a similar situation. Although he was suffering with a painful illness and lost everything he had, Job trusted God enough to reject his wife’s suggestion that he should “curse God and die!” (JOB 2:9).

Some people in our world hold up death as a way out of our difficulties and serious illnesses. While we should never downplay the pain some people are in, we can learn from Job and from Charlie about what trusting God looks like, even when life is at its worst. They knew that life comes from the Creator, and it is not ours to take away.

Thinking it over . . .

Father, sometimes it doesn’t feel simple to say that life is Your gift, especially when I’m in pain or depressed. Please help me to remember that my life, breath and everything else are in Your hands; my days have been written in Your book. I choose to trust You, even in the pain.