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There are some people who believe that if you're in pain, it's okay for you to choose to die (and even to get other people to assist you in dying "with dignity"). It's called euthanasia, and it's dangerous thinking, for it gives you and others the right to decide whose life is valuable and not valuable. Choosing when you are to die is not your role to play; it's God's. Since God is the One who formed you in the first place, he, and only he, knows when it's time for you to die. As Ecclesiastes says, everything has a season, and there's "a time for every purpose under heaven." That means from the very beginning of time, even before you existed, God knew when you would be born, what he wants you to accomplish during your time on earth, and how and when you will die. He made you, and your life belongs to him.

Although it's hard to see past the pain of the moment, be assured that God will, in his perfect timing, make everything beautiful. He promises us that in Ecclesiastes—and God always fulfills his Word. (See also Psalm 38:21, 22; Romans 8:31–39; 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18.)

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2

Does realizing that your life isn't really yours to take change your perspective in any way? If so, how? If not, why not?

Copyright 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian Bible Studies.

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