Thoughts that Kill- 2 Corinthians 10:5 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
Recently a church planter took his life after a marital dispute.  He was not a young man.  He was not an immature man.  He was not even a new believer.  Quite the contrary; he was middle aged, mentally and spiritually mature, and had been a believer for some time.  I wonder were there any warning signs?
Diaries have been and still are great for documenting thoughts and such.  Today many people use Twitter in a similar way.  In reviewing this pastor's tweets there was nothing that stood out as a warning sign.  But something did catch my attention and that was his last post.
 
"God: He is so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in His immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in His infinity!"

How profound this statement would be as time would stand still from this post forward.  I cannot say that it was for him as much as it was for those he left behind.  Can we truly understand God in the context of this situation?  I believe the answer to that is not found after his decision to end his life but in the circumstances leading up to it.

Peter tells us to "be sober in spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).  Jesus says this about Satan; "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
Frontline pastors are always in the crosshairs of the enemy.  Sustaining a healthy personal life, family life and ministry life is critical to one's success.  Peter says in verse seven of chapter five to cast "all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."  Can we not learn from the very one that was rebuked by Christ himself in allowing Satan to fill him at one point as a disciple?  I believe Peter speaks from experience and we would do well to pay attention.

Furthermore, Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."  This is our exhortation in times of distress.  Remaining healthy is washing our minds with the Word of God on a daily basis so the filth of this world does not deteriorate our knowledge of the Holy.  This practice must be followed personally, at home and in the church.  And if something stands in the way of this, time must be taken to resolve it. 
It is easy to find ourselves wrapped up in the work of God and no closer to Him than a lost man.  It is so easy for us to be so entrenched in life that we cannot see out of the hole we are in.  As this dear pastor would say in his book, "The answer is to radically change our perspective about life, to see God as the air we breathe and the path we walk.  Then and only then will we learn to walk in the fullness of what we already have in God and we'll be satisfied in Him."

I hope that if you are facing circumstances and do not see any way out that you take the necessary steps to get help early and not wait till it is too late.  The health of you and your family depends on it.  There is no shame in taking a "time out" in life.  It might just save your life.