Bright Spot: 13 reasons why we need to look in right places
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Remember a teen angst TV show several years ago called “13 Reasons Why”? It was ultra-popular, especially among young people. I don’t recommend watching it for anyone younger than 18 or edging near depression.
The protagonist was a teen girl who committed suicide. This is a leading cause of death among the young and many war veterans. A message to remember – there is help available, but you have to ask for it.
The girl in the show had this as her compelling reason why – to get back at all the people who had done her dirty. But the “why” behind most suicide is mental illness, with special cautions for the depressed.
Please don’t take this permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Many seek solutions to their problems in all the wrong places. We try to medicate or push down our pain with alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, endless entertainment, social media, internet/TV surfing, video games, parties, more elaborate vacations, etc. We exhaust ourselves with one experience and adventure after the other. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) has never been more real.
But instead of solving our problems, the above list just leaves us weary, numb or in despair because we just want more.
“More” is one of the foulest four-letter words of our times. It dulls us to Jesus’ warning of Matthew 13:22: “But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke (his life-giving) Word (The Bible) making it unfruitful.”
We do what Jesus’ followers did that first Easter morning when they were looking for the resurrected Jesus in a cemetery. The angel at his tomb warned with another “why” question: “Why are you looking for life among the dead. He is not here. He is risen!” (Luke 24:1-5).
To paraphrase: “Stop looking for life in all the wrong places!”
The real solution is never suicide or a whole host of other “answers” that over-promise and under-deliver. Real life and truth is not found by asking the “why” or “what” questions. It’s found in WHO. His name is Jesus who promised: “I am the way, the truth and the life...I have come that you may have life and that more abundantly.” (John 14:6; 10:10)
Rick Sams is pastor emeritus of Alliance Friends Church.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Bright Spot: 13 reasons why we need to look in the right places
