What Happened to Mike?
© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.
As Patty and I walked into our house, the phone was ringing. The caller stated, “John, you’d better get over the Mike’s grandmother’s house. Mike has taken his life.”
I was stunned, yet not completely surprised. Mike, a young man in his early 20s had known for more than three years that he had terminal cancer. At first he went through denial, continuing his schooling and making plans for the future as though nothing was wrong. But as the disease spread, he realized he could no longer avoid treatment.
For several years Mike had exhibited his trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior. His words and life testified of God’s grace. All who knew Mike spoke of his cheerful spirit, his loyalty in friendships and his easygoing manner. Only in the past few months had he begun to lose hope as the disease took its toll on his body and emotions. He tired of the endless chemotherapy and its side effects. He lost weight. He began to lose his hair. He hesitated to appear in public – afraid people would think he had AIDS.
Many prayed for Mike. The elders of the church anointed him and prayed for healing. But healing did not come. Although the medical community tried its best to combat the disease, deterioration continued. Mike would have brief periods of rest followed by another downward step.
Finally, Mike made a choice. Rather than endure any more suffering and subject his family and friends to the pain of the final days, mike ended his life. Even the note he left contained thoughts about those he loved.
As Mike’s pastor, I faced a deluge of questions and comments from family and parishioners about his actions – and his future. Some declared suicide to be the unforgivable sin; the consigned Mike to an eternity of alienation from God. The passage most quoted to support that view was I Corinthians 3;17; “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (NASB). The context, however, suggests this temple is not an individual Christian but the church. Paul was warning believers in Corinth about the serious consequences of strife and division.
Others, however, saw the pain Mike had suffered; they spoke of his courage to end his battle on his own terms. After all, didn’t the apostle Paul say in Romans 8:38-39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God, including life or death? If we cannot earn our salvation, then we cannot lose it.
These two views raise the question: “Would a Christian commit suicide?” The implication is that if a person is truly a Christian, he would never choose this action. I would agree with that conclusion under normal circumstances. However, in times of great pain and emotional stress, people may not think rationally. A distorted perspective may confuse right and wrong. Just as a Christian might commit any other sin, hopelessness may cause a believer to take his or her own life. Still, I believe suicide is a wrong course of action.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Plan
In James 4:13-15 we read, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanished away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.’”
We can’t determine our future or the length of our life – God does. We are to live a day at a time and trust God for the results. This is true even in suffering.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Glory
Glory is usually associated with martyrdom, not with suffering and death due to disease. Often alone and ignored, the terminally ill don’t attract the attention that martyrs do. Yet this anonymity in the eyes of man gains favor with God. His purposes are mysterious. Since He alone knows the end from the beginning, the sudden interruption of life aborts the process of glorifying God. Three examples come to mind.
God fails to be glorified through His wisdom. Since character is often developed through suffering, suicide prevents faith from achieving its goal. Furthermore, we may not understand how our lives or the lives of others may be enriched by a demonstration of enduring faith. That endurance is commended by the writers of Scripture. James exhorted Christians to rejoice in suffering because it produces endurance and spiritual maturity (James 1:2-4). Paul said, “Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (II Corinthians 4:17).
God fails to be glorified through His power, which is sometimes – but not always – seen in divine healing. Often, however, faith that endures suffering speaks more powerfully than deliverance. Power may also be demonstrated by transformation in the lives of those witnessing the suffering of the faithful. The late Dag Hammarskjold, a former secretary-general of the United Nations, said, “In the last analysis, it is our conception of death that decides our answers to all the questions life puts to us.” His words echo the truth of Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”
God fails to be glorified through His grace. Scripture promises “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Facing the weakness of suffering, we find that God’s grace is sufficient.
The story is told of a man shopping in a grocery store. His young son followed, carrying a large basket. The father loaded the basket with one thing after another. A woman began to feel sorry for the boy. She said, “That’s a pretty heavy load for a young fellow like you, isn’t it?” The boy replied, “Oh, don’t worry. My dad knows how much I can carry.”
God also knows our limitations. He won’t give us any burden we can’t carry. Because the limit is almost always beyond our expectations, God is glorified.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Reward
Jesus told us to store our treasures in heaven, for our life of faith will be rewarded as part of our future inheritance. James said, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Faithful endurance of suffering is also exalted in Hebrews, and many heroes of the faith are producing a great “cloud of witnesses surrounding us” (Hebrews 12:1).
My affection for Mike and my memory of him are not diminished by his action. He thought he was doing the best thing. Mike’s eternal destiny was determined by his faith in Christ, not by the manner in which he died. But I believe, either due to ignorance or to lost perspective, Mike made a wrong decision. The writer of Hebrews exhorted us to “encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13), thus thwarting God’s plan for our lives.
The very real possibility of suicide should strongly motivate us to be sensitive to those who are hurting.
© John C. Fitts, III and Back to the Bible. All Rights Reserved. This story first appeared in 1993 in Confident Living Magazine (now Back to the Bible). It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher.
I was stunned, yet not completely surprised. Mike, a young man in his early 20s had known for more than three years that he had terminal cancer. At first he went through denial, continuing his schooling and making plans for the future as though nothing was wrong. But as the disease spread, he realized he could no longer avoid treatment.
For several years Mike had exhibited his trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior. His words and life testified of God’s grace. All who knew Mike spoke of his cheerful spirit, his loyalty in friendships and his easygoing manner. Only in the past few months had he begun to lose hope as the disease took its toll on his body and emotions. He tired of the endless chemotherapy and its side effects. He lost weight. He began to lose his hair. He hesitated to appear in public – afraid people would think he had AIDS.
Many prayed for Mike. The elders of the church anointed him and prayed for healing. But healing did not come. Although the medical community tried its best to combat the disease, deterioration continued. Mike would have brief periods of rest followed by another downward step.
Finally, Mike made a choice. Rather than endure any more suffering and subject his family and friends to the pain of the final days, mike ended his life. Even the note he left contained thoughts about those he loved.
As Mike’s pastor, I faced a deluge of questions and comments from family and parishioners about his actions – and his future. Some declared suicide to be the unforgivable sin; the consigned Mike to an eternity of alienation from God. The passage most quoted to support that view was I Corinthians 3;17; “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (NASB). The context, however, suggests this temple is not an individual Christian but the church. Paul was warning believers in Corinth about the serious consequences of strife and division.
Others, however, saw the pain Mike had suffered; they spoke of his courage to end his battle on his own terms. After all, didn’t the apostle Paul say in Romans 8:38-39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God, including life or death? If we cannot earn our salvation, then we cannot lose it.
These two views raise the question: “Would a Christian commit suicide?” The implication is that if a person is truly a Christian, he would never choose this action. I would agree with that conclusion under normal circumstances. However, in times of great pain and emotional stress, people may not think rationally. A distorted perspective may confuse right and wrong. Just as a Christian might commit any other sin, hopelessness may cause a believer to take his or her own life. Still, I believe suicide is a wrong course of action.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Plan
In James 4:13-15 we read, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanished away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.’”
We can’t determine our future or the length of our life – God does. We are to live a day at a time and trust God for the results. This is true even in suffering.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Glory
Glory is usually associated with martyrdom, not with suffering and death due to disease. Often alone and ignored, the terminally ill don’t attract the attention that martyrs do. Yet this anonymity in the eyes of man gains favor with God. His purposes are mysterious. Since He alone knows the end from the beginning, the sudden interruption of life aborts the process of glorifying God. Three examples come to mind.
God fails to be glorified through His wisdom. Since character is often developed through suffering, suicide prevents faith from achieving its goal. Furthermore, we may not understand how our lives or the lives of others may be enriched by a demonstration of enduring faith. That endurance is commended by the writers of Scripture. James exhorted Christians to rejoice in suffering because it produces endurance and spiritual maturity (James 1:2-4). Paul said, “Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (II Corinthians 4:17).
God fails to be glorified through His power, which is sometimes – but not always – seen in divine healing. Often, however, faith that endures suffering speaks more powerfully than deliverance. Power may also be demonstrated by transformation in the lives of those witnessing the suffering of the faithful. The late Dag Hammarskjold, a former secretary-general of the United Nations, said, “In the last analysis, it is our conception of death that decides our answers to all the questions life puts to us.” His words echo the truth of Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”
God fails to be glorified through His grace. Scripture promises “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Facing the weakness of suffering, we find that God’s grace is sufficient.
The story is told of a man shopping in a grocery store. His young son followed, carrying a large basket. The father loaded the basket with one thing after another. A woman began to feel sorry for the boy. She said, “That’s a pretty heavy load for a young fellow like you, isn’t it?” The boy replied, “Oh, don’t worry. My dad knows how much I can carry.”
God also knows our limitations. He won’t give us any burden we can’t carry. Because the limit is almost always beyond our expectations, God is glorified.
Suicide Short-Circuits God’s Reward
Jesus told us to store our treasures in heaven, for our life of faith will be rewarded as part of our future inheritance. James said, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Faithful endurance of suffering is also exalted in Hebrews, and many heroes of the faith are producing a great “cloud of witnesses surrounding us” (Hebrews 12:1).
My affection for Mike and my memory of him are not diminished by his action. He thought he was doing the best thing. Mike’s eternal destiny was determined by his faith in Christ, not by the manner in which he died. But I believe, either due to ignorance or to lost perspective, Mike made a wrong decision. The writer of Hebrews exhorted us to “encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13), thus thwarting God’s plan for our lives.
The very real possibility of suicide should strongly motivate us to be sensitive to those who are hurting.
© John C. Fitts, III and Back to the Bible. All Rights Reserved. This story first appeared in 1993 in Confident Living Magazine (now Back to the Bible). It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher.