Severe Anxiety In Life

By Stephen Leonard

“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” Matthew 6:25

A woman living in a high floor luxury condo in New York City very recently jumped to her death from her terrace with her small pet dog in her arms. She chose to end her life due undoubtedly to severe-anxiety-influenced-depression and she took her not-so-depressed dog with her.

Obviously, poverty wasn’t her problem. She had “everything” she needed. Or did she? Money is obviously not the panacea it is cracked up to be.

Robin Williams, a talented and rich movie actor, and also a very funny comedienne, was obviously very sad to the point of a deep depression in his private life. He made many people laugh and forget their anxiety, but he took his own life, hanging himself in 2014.

Numerous people, made in God’s image, from elementary school age children to the very old, are so disparaged with life that they choose to end it, thinking this is the only way to stop the pain which they firmly believe they can no longer stand. But is death the ending of their pain? Not necessarily.

Death moves them from one existence to another. Can a believer commit suicide? I dare say, some do. But if you take your life as an unbeliever, thinking you pass into a nothingness without pain, you are sadly mistaken. There are two certain destinations for absolutely everyone: paradise or hell.

Of course, you may not believe this. But your personal opinion carries no weight here. God is the true ruler of life and all existence. To ignore, deny, hate, or simply hold no belief of God, does not obliterate Him. He still is! And He is unchangeable. And as He has faithfully made His presence known within all beings, according to God’s Word (Romans 1:19-20), they all are without excuse.

Life is filled with truths which exist firm no matter your opinion concerning them. The world has scientific certainties which rule its nature. Only it’s Maker can alter any “natural outcome.” He has done that with the use of “miracles.” But He does not choose to always use them. They are rare, but always conform to His sovereign plan.

Suicides do produce irreversible death. As sad as they are, they place their victims in the place of eternal life, in heaven or hell, and awaiting the Great Judgment. Luke 16:19-31 is a parable which teaches frightening truths. The great fixed chasm in this parable is true.

All the more reason to listen to God’s Word. It is intended to be a light for the nations, a warning to sinners, a revelation to point people to eternal life. To ignore it, not believe it, even in the face of severe anxiety leading to depression or even suicide, is to end up on the wrong side of the great fixed chasm.

Salvation is a miracle. It can alter your eternal destination. Your salvation places you on the right side of the great fixed chasm. It is the only eternally useful medicine to apply to your anxiety; anxiety you do not think you can stand.

Encouragement

“Jesus, my all in all Thou art; my rest in toil, my ease in pain, the medicine of my broken heart, in war my peace, in loss my gain, my smile beneath the tyrant’s frown, in shame my glory and my crown.”

(3rd verse of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose,” 1749)