Weekly Roundup: Suicide, Heaven, Sin, and Authority
An answer to suicide, unashamed to seek heaven, taking sin seriously, and how authority authors life.
Resources
Suicide, Heaven, and Jesus—the Final Answer to Our Sorrow | Randy Alcorn | Eternal Perspective Ministries
This was a sad, tender article on suicide.
This issue is very personal for me, too. Three years ago a close friend—a godly brother who loved Jesus and loved to share his faith—took his life, and it rocked my world. A month earlier Nanci and I had talked with him and his precious wife about depression, stress, and sleep deprivation, and had encouraged him to get medical treatment and qualified counseling, and he had taken steps to that end. He had a great family, church, and support system. He drove me to the airport just three days before taking his life, and I talked with him directly about his struggles. He told me the depression was still there, but that he was feeling better about his life and state of mind, and he assured me all would be well. We hugged and said goodbye on a Sunday evening, and that Wednesday afternoon I got the call telling me he had died. That weekend I spoke at his memorial service.
Never Be Ashamed to Seek Heaven: Why Some Drag Their Feet to Paradise | Greg Morse | Desiring God
This article was a mishmash of a lot of different truths, a salad bowl of sorts. But I think it’s worth it for the last paragraph.
God’s Book woos us with talk of fullness of joy, eternal life, crowns, thrones, crystal rivers, unfading inheritance, white robes, laughter, mountains, songs, angels, feasting, fellowship, eternal light, the undoing of all wrong, the ensuring of all right, and, of course, of God himself resplendent in all his glory. We do not close our eyes to this in the name of duty. Rather, we listen to the music playing through the cracked door, and take hold of it with holy aggression, letting all know that we wish — more than anything — to be with our King forever.
Take Sin Seriously | Geoffrey Thomas | TableTalk Magazine
This article is from the October 2019 issue of TableTalk, in which seasoned saints write letters to younger ones, and vice versa. This was a really sweet one from a seasoned saint to a younger Christian.
Why is the Son of God taken for granted in the visible church today? Only because sin is taken lightly. The rediscovery of the glory of Christ’s salvation is our most pressing need. The most mature man of God needs a fresh vision of Jesus Christ so that he cries out, “Hallelujah! What a Savior!” This is the mark of a growing and a revived congregation, and that fullness of the Spirit as He glorifies the Son comes in large part by means of a conviction of our sin and a realization of our need of this glorious Deliverer from sin’s dominion, perversity, and condemnation. So, young Christian, take sin seriously.
Authority authors life | Jonathan Leeman
The common Latin root of the words author and authority provide an indication of the purpose behind human authority—to author life. God granted man authority, the right to rule, in order to author life, just like God’s rule authors life. Rulership, we can say, is the right of a creator to create. It’s taking something (or nothing, in God’s case) and giving order, shape, or function to it with some purpose in mind—an order, shape, or function that did not previously exist. …Authority justly used in the fear of God is like the sun nourishing the grass and chasing it to grow. It creates life. It authors growth.1
Leeman, Jonathan. The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline. Crossway, 2010. pp. 143–144. ↩︎
I read, and save, more articles that I’m able to post in the Weekly Roundup. To see all of the articles I’ve saved over the years, see my Evernote collection.