Stages of Death

For the past week or so I have had a sermon that I heard at a youth function weighing heavily on my mind. The minister that night was an EMT and shared with us something that he had learned on his job: the five stages of death. These five stages deal with someone who is suicidal and tell of the warning signs, however they can also be applied to our spiritual lives. Let us look for these five signs in our lives to make sure we're not on our way to a spiritual death.

1. Isolation

You are most vulnerable when you are alone. The devil will use this to make you think that you are left out, that no one cares about you and that you are worth less than you really are. Don't isolate yourself! Get involved in a church or in a group of friends who will lift you up in the Lord.

2. Anger

This is a big one. The Bible tells us to "anger and sin not" so we know there is such a thing as righteous anger, but anger is a tool the devil can use against us without us even realizing it. It's often said that we hurt the ones we love, and that is true in this sense as well: we become angry with those we love when things in our lives aren't going the way we want them to. I mean, it's easier to put the blame off on someone else.

Spiritually speaking, the devil will cause us to take small things and blow them up into big things. Our pastors, youth pastors, and fellow Christians become the target of our anger, giving us a reason to give up on the people who, in the end, could really help us.

3. Bargaining

This is the scariest stage, in my opinion. I guess this is so because it's the one that I can see so clearly when I look at decisions I have made in the past. There comes a point in spiritual death when you start to let down on the standards you have held for so long. Soon, the morals and the values you hold become less important. Looking like Jesus takes the place on the back burner and living as the world lives starts to look more appealing. Bargaining is bad, bad business.

4. Depression

Being depressed only leads to one thought: What's the use?

5. Acceptance

Accepting defeat is never an option. When someone who is suicidal accepts defeat, they may choose to end their life. Spiritually, we don't realize what we are doing, but slowly and surely, if we take notice, we will realize that our thought processes have changed. Living a life separate from the peace of God becomes the norm. Soon we believe that this is "just how it is" and "how it's always going to be."

But Praise be to God! Because Spiritual death doesn't have to be permanent. Jesus died on the cross so that He might conquer death and the grave and give us a second chance to live and to live eternally with him. I never want to forget that. I never want to find myself even venturing into any of these stages, because even if life is hard sometimes, God is going to take care of us. He never said that he would not give us more than we could bear, He said he would not give us more than HE could bear. So cast all your cares on the Lord.