This week, Sept 8th-Sept 14th, was International Suicide Prevention Week. A week dedicated to life, a week dedicated to PRESERVING life, and to preserving hope. In 2022, over 49,000 people died by suicide. That is one death every 11 minutes. It is an epidemic, and frankly, it is an epidemic that we as the church MUST begin to speak a little more loudly about, and be more passionate about. The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention has done an incredible job of raising awareness for this epidemic, but we as the church should be as passionate as anyone. There is no one size fits all solution for suicide and I would never claim there is, but today I want to circle in on one factor, and that is the tragedy of hopelessness. No one ends their life because they think things will get better, no one ends their life because they feel hopeful, but we serve a God, and believe in a gospel, that is all about hope. We serve a God who is quite literally a living hope. Colossians 1:27 puts it this way

“God wanted to make known to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

We as Christians are meant to be reflections of hope. The word hope appears 129 times in the Bible. We have the hope above all hopes, and we weren’t meant to keep it to ourselves. Not just hope that we have an eternity safe from pain and death, but that the joy and hope is here, and now! That even in the darkest of seasons, there is hope that one day it WILL get better. We are losing people every day who feel hopeless, lost, and hurting beyond measure, and WE get to be God’s ROARING megaphone to go out into the world and share words of hope, to be beacons of light. John 1:5 says “The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out.” We have the light that can’t be put out…. So what are we doing with it?

"Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones". - Proverbs 16:24

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit". - Proverbs 18:21

“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it!” - John 1:5

Our words have so much power, more than we know. I’m not insinuating for even a moment that we should hold ourselves accountable for losses because we let an unfortunate word slip, or failed to speak enough good, goodness no. However, we cannot deny the POWER of our speech. The Bible emphasizes it over and over. We have a responsibility to not just keep our hope to ourselves, the tongue has the power of life and death! May we not be a people who serve a God of hope and life yet speak only darkness and death. If you have a Bible verse in your Instagram bio, you should be one of the most encouraging people at your job. If your friends know you’re an active churchgoer, you should be the most supportive person they know. Don't ever hesitate to encourage someone, when you think of someone, let them know. Our words matter, and our words can save lives. Take a moment throughout your week to encourage the people around you, to speak life rather than death, and sometimes even to allow our loudest words to be listening ears. In a world where our tongues have the power of life and death, may we be a people that carry and share hope wherever we go. 

(If you or someone you know struggles with mental health or suicidal thoughts, please seek the care of a qualified professional, there is hope in His word, but so too is there hope in the people He has placed in the world to help.)

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