Why a suicidal and hopeless world needs Jesus?
Billy Graham writes in Hope for the Troubled Heart, “I have found that people are the same the world over. However, in recent years I find that there is an increasing problem that I would sum up in the word, ‘hopeless’. … People in the most affluent societies are feeling this sense of despair and hopelessness.”
Hoplessness is on the rise, long after Graham penned those words.
A new survey of students in Montana found a shocking rise of sadness and hopelessness in just the last decade.
“Thirty-seven percent reported feeling sad or hopeless for two weeks or more in a row, 10 percent more than in 2009. Twenty percent of high school students made a plan about how they would attempt suicide, compared to 13 percent in 2009, and 10 percent actually attempted suicide in the 12 months prior to the survey, compared to 7 percent in 2011.”
So why is everyone losing hope?
Cardiologist Dr. McNair Wilson noted in his autobiography, Doctor’s Progress: “Perhaps the greatest psychological, spiritual and medical need that people have is the need for hope. Hope is the medicine I use more than any other—hope can cure nearly everything.”
Dr. Harold Wolff, professor of medicine at Cornell University Medical College and associate professor of psychiatry, said, “Hope, like faith and a purpose in life, is medicinal. This is not a statement of belief, but a conclusion proved by meticulously controlled scientific experiment.“
photo/ Gerd Altmann
Thirty-one percent of middle school students reported sad or hopeless feelings, 19 percent planned suicide, and 16 percent actually attempted suicide during the past year, according to the report cited above.
From Romans 5:3-5 “…we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
And in Psalms 16: 7-9 “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.”
Asking for Jesus into your heart brings the Holy Spirit
God pours into our hearts bringing a transformative love and forgiveness. That change brings a new beginning, a new life, being “born again” and a hope for an eternal existence with the creator of the universe.
Blessing Lord with your heart
See the passion from David as he writes the Psalm: “bless the Lord” comes first, then instruction follows and his heart is made glad: “…my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.”
Rest in hope…transforming your heart
It’s God’s love, which comes through Jesus, into your heart, bringing the blessings and ability to rejoice and find hope.
Sadness and pain, thoughts of suicide are relieved in this manner. It’s not wealth or power that exempts someone from hopelessness, it’s the knowledge of Jesus…it’s the receipt of God’s greatest gift: salvation.
Jesus brings salvation and the hope that never disappoints: Romans 5:5.
More on hope or have questions, read HERE
Author Jane Hunt has a great article on hope, read HERE
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