Dear sir,<\/p>\n
I am writing from a very small city. I was first called by God on His mission, but I refused it due to my family’s financial situation. Now I am again starting His service, but I am not able to serve it fully. Satan always puts me in places where I always fail. I am starting a social service club to serve the poor here, but constant denials are what I get. Yet deep in my heart Christ Jesus, my Savior, reigns and I still believe in his saving grace.<\/p>\n
What should I do now? I am up to a point of committing suicide. Why was I ever born? Do I really have a purpose for living?<\/p>\n\t
“But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It seems to me that your desire to serve the Lord is good, but you give little consideration to what the Lord tells you to do. Just because something sounds good to you, it doesn’t mean the Lord wants it. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’<\/em>” (Matthew 7:21-23). Obedience to God is far more important than creating ways to serve Him that you think He will accept.<\/p>\n
There is nowhere God says He wants a social service club to serve the poor. As individuals, we are required to help the poor when we are able. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith<\/em>” (Galatians 6:10). Yet, at the same time, that is not why we are here on earth. A Christian’s first duty is to teach the gospel message. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:21).<\/p>\n
Instead of focusing on what you want to do, learn first what God requires you to do. Teaching the gospel requires no money, but the rewards are greater than anything on this earth.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Dear sir, I am writing from a very small city. I was first called by God on His mission, but I refused it due to my family’s financial situation. Now I am again starting His service, but I am not able to serve it fully. Satan always puts me in places where I always…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[54,39],"class_list":["post-47353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-obedience","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90898,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-been-living-irresponsibly-but-i-want-to-serve-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":0},"title":"I’ve been living irresponsibly, but I want to serve God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, I am a 35-year-old single man. I am writing this with utmost shame, disgust, and remorse for my sinful and irresponsible lifestyle when it comes to the sexual department. I have been very immoral, you name it, I am entirely guilty of the sin. Whether it be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34743,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-serve-the-lord-but-my-boyfriend-doesnt-care-to-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":1},"title":"I want to serve the Lord, but my boyfriend doesn’t care to get married","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I live with my boyfriend. We have two kids. I love the Lord; my desire is to serve Him, but I know living together without being married is wrong. Repeatedly I've told him how I feel about the whole situation. He doesn't care to get married, and I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44222,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-have-had-sex-with-the-same-gender-and-watch-gay-porn-does-that-mean-i-am-a-homosexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":2},"title":"If I have had sex with the same gender and watch gay porn, does that mean I am a homosexual?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have had sex with both men and women I am 18 and thoroughly enjoyed both encounters. I am starting to find that I enjoy watching gay porn and am fantasizing about men more and more. Does this mean that I am homosexual? Answer: You are treating homosexuality as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-christian-serve-god-when-the-military-rules-are-not-conducive-to-serving-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":3},"title":"How can a Christian serve God when the military rules are not conducive to serving God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband is a soldier in the military. Currently, he is on a 14-month deployment (technically, he's overseas for 9 months and training during the other time). He is adamant about not reenlisting being that he has not been able to worship, nor will he be able to unless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18032,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-been-living-in-fear-for-11-years-i-want-to-commit-suicide-but-i-dont-know-can-you-free-me-from-my-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":4},"title":"I’ve been living in fear for 11 years. I want to commit suicide, but I don’t know. Can you free me from my demons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been bound to fear for about 11 years now. I am originally from Africa but living in the Netherlands now. When I was in Africa, a woman threatened to deal with me spiritually. Since then, I have developed a fear for her and her family so I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46600,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/serve-to-be-great\/","url_meta":{"origin":47353,"position":5},"title":"Serve to Be Great","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse Notice the statement made by Paul in I Corinthians 4:1:\u00a0\"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.\"\u00a0 Be especially careful to recognize that Paul identifies himself and his fellow workers as \"servants of Christ.\"\u00a0 Does that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}