Brittney Maynard
chose to end her life this past weekend.
She was diagnosed last spring with stage 4 glioblastoma. No doubt she struggled a lot with pain in her
final days. She made headlines because
she chose to take advantage of Oregon’s “Death With Dignity” law. From a purely human perspective I understand. I also empathize to a degree because I have
dealt with my share of physical pain. I
can understand why she would just want it to end. Who wouldn’t?
Humans hate pain
and suffering. Our first reaction to it
is to ask “How can I get out of it?” I
know. I have been there before. As a
follower of Jesus Christ however, I have discovered that sometimes God chooses
to walk with you through it. Sadly we
don’t often learn or grow as much in the easy and smooth times of life.
Suffering brings
growth. The Apostle Paul understood
this. He wrote “That I may know him, and
the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:10)
Paul in fact
takes it a step further. Not only does
suffering bring growth, it can be a tool that God uses to increase our
effectiveness for Christ. “And lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart
from me.
And he said unto
me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
Is suffering fun
and enjoyable? Absolutely not. But I wish with all my heart that Brittney
had known the Lord and allowed Him to work though her situation. God is good all the time. If you are suffering today I hope you will
trust Jesus to walk you though it.
As I was looking
through the social media response to this story the same refrain leapt off the
page time and time again. “It’s her choice.”
Is it? I think the answer to this
question is the crux of the matter.
If you believe
that we are here by chance, the product of millions of years of evolution, and
merely the most advanced member of the animal kingdom, it could be easy to make
this determination. After all, if I am
here by chance and my life doesn’t have a purpose, ending my life (especially
in the face of suffering) is a perfectly logical conclusion.
I am so glad
that the Word of God shatters that lie with this truth “And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
We were made in the image God. I
know that we who are followers of Christ know this in our heads, but how often do
we really step back to consider the ramifications of this amazing fact?
Not only are we
made in the image of God, but if we are believers we are bought with Christ’s precious
blood. When we trusted Him, we surrendered
control of our lives to Him. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For
ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20) He paid for us, so it is up to Him to direct
our lives and determine the time of our death.
This leads us to
the understanding that God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. “For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) Since
I came to understand this truth, I have seen God do amazing things in my life.
In closing, let
me just say that I understand that no end of life issues are easy. No one wants to suffer or to see suffering in
the lives of their loved ones. My prayer
for you is that you will realize that God never promised us that life would be
easy, but he did promise “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews
13:5) He always keeps his promises!
Speaking4Him,
Andrew Gommesen
