suicide
section 1
The tragedy of suicide can be very confusing; whether its understanding why a loved one has killed themselves, desires to die, or even just wrestling with your own deathly desires. The idea of suicide and the desire for one’s own death is often shrouded in mystery.
We have many examples in Scripture of those either killing themselves or wanting to die. They come from different stations in life, different backgrounds, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. From Moses and Elijah, to rebels and strong men, from Judas to Job, kings, commoners, advisors and generals; it is clear from the variety of those who dealt with this malady that this is a very common, human problem. As we unfold the Scriptures on this, may we come to understand our own hearts proverbs 4:23 so that we may be changed and have our minds set on life proverbs 4:20-22 so as to be healed, and to point others to the Healer.
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supporting scriptures
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
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20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
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section 2
There are many reasons a person would want to die. Each have their own nuances and Biblical responses. Many reasons play on each other, build on each other, and bleed into various problems. They come in many different forms, at different times, through various happenings. All these troubles have Biblical responses in their specific circumstances and heart issues ii peter 1:3 . But we will attempt a general, simplified look at the overall heartache of those wanting death proverbs 8:36 .
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supporting scriptures
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
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36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
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my notes:
section 3
Simple misery and/or the unhappiness of your circumstances might make death seem a viable solution job 7:15 . Exhaustion in the hardships of life make life miserable, and make death a seemingly possible solution to the exhaustion jeremiah 12:5 i kings 19:4-7 . Then the seemingly good life of others makes for a continuing envy of them, and again, life for one’s self seems only an ongoing miserable prospect ecclesiastes 4:1-4 psalm 73:2-3 psalm 73:12-14 psalm73:16 . This leads to anger and bitterness, making death seem not only viable but the better option ecclesiastes 2:17-18 jeremiah 8:3 . Harboring that sorrow builds up to deep self-pity genesis 37:35 jeremiah 18:12 and fortifies resentment job 36:13-14 which now makes all other options but death unattainable jeremiah 2:25 . And often, the culmination of this is found in the unreasoning, bitter despair that not only makes death seem like the only solution numbers 11:14-15 , but often leading to actions that others would see as absolutely crazy, sheer madness, because they do not know how one got to that point revelation 12:12 isaiah 1:18-20 i samuel 20:31-33 ii peter 2:12 .
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supporting scriptures
15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
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5 "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
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my notes:
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers." 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you."
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1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
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2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
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12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
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16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
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17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me
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3 Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.
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35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
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2 "But they say, That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
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13 "The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14 They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.
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25 Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.’
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14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."
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12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"
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18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
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31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." 32 Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
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12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction...
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my notes:
section 4
These next truths are not to condemn those in despair, but to set them free romans 8:1-2 . For every believer has despaired of life in their misery to some extent or another matthew 11:28-30 and it was through that very desperation that God delivered them job 36:15-16 , as God offers an opportunity to the despairing to end their own life of loneliness, exhaustion, misery, envy, bitterness, resentment and fear john 12:24-25 titus 3:3-7 and actually find a new life in Him forever galatians 2:19-20 ii corinthians 5:1 ii corinthians 5:17 .
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supporting scriptures
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
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5 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
16 He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
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24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life
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3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
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1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
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17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
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my notes:
section 5
Suicide is the culmination of selfish desire unto death. Whether it is over a long period of time that despair is built up james 1:14-15 or a rash decision flowing from a heart full of sin romans 8:5-6 , suicide, or the desire to end your miserable circumstances through death is a despair that comes from misdirected hope proverbs 10:28 . Our desires are not met lamentations 3:17-20 and then we come to believe any hope for our desires will not be met, which leads to despairing of life ezekiel 37:11 job 17:11-15 ii samuel 17:23 . This misery is worldly, sinful, and very human in that we seek our own benefit rather than the benefit of others and the pleasure of God romans 2:8 proverbs 18:1 . And so, a selfish response of sorrow ends in death instead of the opportunity that God gives us in our sorrows ii corinthians 7:10 to be freed from those isolating, fruitless desires romans 6:20-23 .
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supporting scriptures
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
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5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
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28 The hope of the righteous brings joy,
but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
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my notes:
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord."
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me
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11 Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’
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11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
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23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.
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8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
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1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.
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10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
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20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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section 6
While a believer should assuredly anticipate i john 3:2-3 our going to the Lord philippians 1:21-23 or His coming to get us revelations 22:20 ; it is fruitless and harmful to set our hearts on ending one’s own life, as we are here for His glory and for the benefit of others philippians 1:24-25 romans 14:8 . Our lives will end WHEN we have served the whole purpose God has appointed to us acts 13:36 ephesians 1:11-12 . Our hope is not in better circumstances in this life ecclesiastes 9:1 ecclesiastes 7:10 or even in our release from this sinful world ecclesiastes 9:4 , but our hope is in an ever-increasing relationship with the Lord romans 5:1-5 philippians 4:4 psalm 37:4 psalm 42:11 titus 3:7 john 17:3 . The lie the thief has sold us john 10:10 is that we ought to have ongoing pleasure through selfishness i john 2:15-17 hebrews 3:13 , and in our believing that lie, he devours our hope by replacing true hope with false hope i peter 5:7-9 jeremiah 23:16-17 .
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supporting scriptures
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
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21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
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20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
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8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
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36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
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my notes:
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
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1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.
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10 Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
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4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
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1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
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4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
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my notes:
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
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11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
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7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
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0 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
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15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever
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13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
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my notes:
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
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16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, No disaster shall come upon you.’"
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section 7
Humans seek after sources to fulfill their own selfish desires ezekiel 14:4-5 jeremiah 2:13 , reducing relationships with others, and even with God, as a means and not an end proverbs 23:6-7 isaiah 29:13 james 4:1-3 . How often we believers follow the ways of this world in making God a means to an end rather than the absolute desire of our hearts psalm 42:1-2 i timothy 6:5 philippians 3:7-14 ! Hoping to fulfill our selfish desires is what breeds despair ephesians 2:12 , but the pursuit of a genuine relationship with God, and through Him, genuine relationships with others, gives hope regardless of the miserable current circumstances, or the prospect of continuingly miserable circumstances habakkuk 3:17-19 lamentations 3:21-24 . For we can assuredly anticipate good in our relationship with our Lord lamentations 3:25 !
my notes:
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supporting scriptures
4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols
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13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
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6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,
7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
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13 And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
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1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
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1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
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and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
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7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus
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12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
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17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
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21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
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25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
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my notes:
section 8
When your desire is for reciprocal love song of solomon 2:16 i john 4:19 , for participation in God romans 8:17-18 ii peter 1:4 , and united fellowship with others john 17:21-23 psalm 133 there are no circumstances that should make us despair of not having it, or not having more of it in the future romans 8:35-39 i john 4:16 . When God is truly your desire psalm 16:2 and your delight is in His family psalm 16:3 life is full, its filling psalm 23:5 philippians 4:11-13 john 10:10 despite miserable circumstances psalm 16:5-6 ; for in believing these desires are good, there is hope and life psalm 16:11 i corinthians 13:13 . This is why God graciously revealed to us that the pinnacle of all life is to love Him and love others matthew 22:37-40 .
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supporting scriptures
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.
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19 We love because he first loved us.
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17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
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21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
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1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
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35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
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2 I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
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3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.
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5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
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11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
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5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
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11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
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section 9
If we respond to God’s call, the opportunity He gives us in the sorrows of this life is to truly kill the selfishness that is killing us ephesians 4:22-24 colossians 3:5 . In doing so, we find the peaceful contentment of genuine love hebrews 12:7-13 . We would no longer despair in madness daniel 4:34 , bitterness psalm 23:6 joel 2:25 genesis 50:20 , self-pity romans 8:28 romans 8:37 , envy romans 12:15 , exhaustion isaiah 40:27-31 , or misery, psalm 126:5-6 for we would possess the sure, living breathing Hope i peter 1:3 .
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supporting scriptures
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
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5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
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7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
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34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
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6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
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20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
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my notes:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
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37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep
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27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
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5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
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my notes:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
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section 10
Though it can sound harsh it is the correct diagnosis for all of us who despair: selfish desires create false hope that lead to death of relationships and true life ephesians 4:18 john 12:24 . The prescription for the malady of suicide is just this, and only effective if you believe it so as to pursue it romans 1:5 galatians 5:6 : Kill your own desires and live to please God’s desires, no matter the misery of your circumstances, and then this true hope will not disappoint you, for you will have God, His children, and you’ll even keep your life unto eternity john 12:25 jeremiah 45:5 romans 2:7 .
supporting scriptures
18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
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24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
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through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
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6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
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5 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go."
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7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life...
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016