If you are someone who claims the name of Christ, and who is mulling over the idea of ending your own life, know these truths: you are being tempted by Satanic lies and what you are contemplating is a grievous evil. Jesus knows and feels your pain. His body, the Body of Christ, is here to lift you up out of this pit. Leave your pride behind and cling to His body and His Church. You must only abandon your pride.

Every year around Christmastime, my family commenced a tradition of watching Frank Capra’s iconic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. I’ve continued the tradition with my wife and daughter, usually viewing the classic either on the day we cut down our Christmas Tree, Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day. I’ve always loved the movie; to me, the film has never gotten old or boring. I find that each viewing presents a new impression or lesson.
Several years ago, we watched It’s a Wonderful Life as usual. I always get misty-eyed at the final scene of the movie: “To my brother George, the richest man in town.”
But this viewing was different. One scene hit me so hard I started sobbing. Those familiar with the movie will know the scene (and those not familiar should stop reading this and go watch it): After jumping into a river to save Clarence, the angel charged with keeping him from taking his own life to provide an insurance payout for his family, George Bailey says, “I suppose it would have been better if I was never born.”
George Bailey’s self-assessment resonated with me, His plan to kill himself for insurance money cut me to the core. I was crying because, lately, I was wrestling with some similar thoughts. Although, I was lamenting that I didn’t have an insurance policy to leave my family.
Like George Bailey, I was tempted to believe that my situation, my family, and the world would be far better if I weren’t around.
The Accuser Of The Brethren
Revelation 12:10 refers to Satan as the “accuser of the brethren”, which Satan proves himself as in the Book of Job. The devil’s goal is to cause Job to curse God to His face. While Satan fails in this task, Job is assaulted by despair from every possible angle. His own wife chides him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9) after losing his children, wealth, and finally his health. We can only imagine the intense level of grief and hopelessness Job experienced during those seven days of silence with his “friends”.
And yet, Satan’s accusation turns out to be unfounded. Job never curses God at any point. He sinks into sorrow and questions God, but doesn’t become defiant. In fact, Job maintains his integrity (Job 27:5).
Most of us don’t find ourselves in situations as traumatic as Job’s. But like him, we can experience the accusations of the Devil. Particularly when we’re living through desperation. One of Satan’s classic ploys is to convince us that because of our circumstances, shortcomings, or general misery, we ought to “curse God and die.”
Often this culminates in a final act of taking of one’s own life.
An Epidemic Of Emptiness
The United States saw the most annual suicides ever recorded in 2023 – over 50,000. To put this statistic into perspective, this means that more than 1 in 1,000 people kill themselves every year. This rate is increasing, too. We will soon arrive at a point where everyone knows of someone who has perished by their own hand. In the US, white male adults make up the overwhelming majority of suicides: upwards of 70%.
The proposed causes usually focus on the availability of guns or social media influence. Most theories do not focus on root causes. Some common sentiments and circumstances that lead to thinking in this dark, dangerous way include the following: the dissolution of a marriage or family relationship, seemingly insurmountable financial situations, the loss of a job, failure in overcoming addictive sins, the destruction of one’s reputation, despair at the state of one’s nation/community/family, or the feeling of powerlessness to deal with any of the forementioned things.
“I’m A Failure”
Often, it’s the everyday strife and struggle that brings one to the edge of the cliff. Men, especially middle-aged family men, are more likely to commit suicide. There are a variety of societal explanations for this, but in an anti-masculine society, it’s no surprise that many men feel powerless to stand against what they see as insurmountable odds.
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But since Johnson went public with his orientation in Christianity Today, pastors in his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, have tried to banish clergy who identify as gay, even if they commit to celibacy.  Johnson has fought that. He says orientation is largely fixed — but believes there is still a place for people like him in conservative churches.

Greg Johnson describes himself as a “gay atheist teenager” who fell for Jesus — and found himself at the center of evangelical Christianity’s internal battles over sexuality.
For nearly 20 years, Johnson has pastored Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, right across from Forest Park. He says he’s been gay and celibate the entire time. When he came out to his church, he said he received a standing ovation and shouts of “We love you, Greg” from congregants.
But since Johnson went public with his orientation in Christianity Today, pastors in his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, have tried to banish clergy who identify as gay, even if they commit to celibacy.
Johnson has fought that. He says orientation is largely fixed — but believes there is still a place for people like him in conservative churches.
“I spent a lot of years convincing myself that I was a straight man with a disease called homosexuality that could be cured,” Johnson said on Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air. “And, perhaps up to a million of us did that.”
The million Johnson is referring to are people who participated in the so-called “ex-gay movement,” which centered on the theory that one can change sexual orientation. The organization leading the charge, Exodus International, shuttered in 2013 after decades of fruitless attempts. Johnson said those efforts did more harm than good.
“I really believe that Jesus loves gay people, and I want evangelical churches to learn to say that and believe that,” he said.
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Without strong encouragement, the fainthearted will quickly succumb to the pressures of the world, the stubborn will become more set in their ways, and the faithless will fall away from the living God. On the other hand, a strong encouragement from a brother or sister in Christ can act like a balm that softens our hardened hearts, a shield that protects our discouraged hearts from sin’s deceitfulness.

Experiencing discouragement is a normal part of being human. We are discouraged by the actions of others, and we are discouraged by our own actions. Maybe you are walking with someone—a friend, counselee, or loved one—who is discouraged. Maybe as you are reading this, you feel discouraged right now. I think it’s fair to say that we could all use more encouragement.
The Downward Spiral of Discouragement
All of us get discouraged at some point—someone disappoints us, we read another devastating headline, we get a painful phone call, or we fall into the trap of habitual sin once more—life on this earth does not go the way we expect. When these things happen, it is all too easy to throw up our hands and say, “I can’t take it anymore!” “What’s the point?” “Why even bother?” If we are not careful, discouragement can callous our hearts towards God.
Listen to the words of the author of Hebrews:
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 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. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Heb. 3:12-15).
The people of Israel were discouraged. All they knew was slavery in Egypt—a life of hard living and no rest. With a mighty display of His power and love, God stepped in and released them from bondage. But freedom didn’t look the way they expected. Out in the desert, the Israelites soon became discouraged by their circumstances. They wanted a home, they wanted rest, and they were thirsty and hungry. God provided and God promised, but they quickly forgot His goodness (Ex. 16; Num. 11). Before long, their discouragement led to bitterness and ultimately to rebellion. Their punishment would be 40 years of wandering in the desert.
The Warning
The writer of Hebrews offers us a warning. Sin is deceitful. When circumstances or our own failures discourage us, we are tempted to turn inward, looking for ways to self-preserve or point fingers. We can struggle to see past the immediate situation and quickly forget the ways God has been faithful. We might hear the faint voice of God but instead, choose to “harden our hearts” against Him.
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