On June 18, 2018, the world was shocked to learn that author and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had committed suicide. It didn’t make sense. From all appearances he had the best life. His net worth was upwards of $8 million. He had authored 13 books, many of which had become New York Times best sellers. He had starred in four different television shows which featured a mix of food and travel. In episode after episode, from 2002 to 2018, he travelled to the world’s most exotic places. He sampled the choicest, most delectable foods he could find. His travels took him near and far, from Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, South Carolina, to Tian Tian Fan Dian in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. It looked like he was having a blast.
But on the morning of June 18, 2018, we awoke to learn that Bourdain had hung himself in the shower of his hotel room in France where he was filming an episode of his show, Parts Unknown. He was 61 years of age.
From the outside it looked like Bourdain was living his best life. But appearances were deceiving. Inside he was dealing with a darkness that he had been fighting for years. And on June 18, 2018, he finally succumbed to the darkness.
I imagine if someone were to look at your life they might think you have the best life. They see your holiday decorations, family photos, and travel pictures on Facebook and Instagram and are filled with a mixture of longing and envy.
But that’s just what they can see on the outside.
You say, “Scott, they don’t know what I’m going through. They have no idea.”
And they don’t.
They don’t know the pain you deal with every day because of an injury or chronic condition.
They don’t know the anguish you feel because of a loss you have experienced or as the result of a childhood trauma.
They don’t know the darkness that you try to keep at bay while you run the kids to and from practice, go back and forth to work, fix dinner, shop for groceries, strive to at least keep up with the chores around the house.
They don’t know.
From the outside things look great. On the inside things are not great. Not at all.
God has a solution for when there is a profound mis-match between our inside and outside life. It is found in James 5:16 —
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
His solution is simple: confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.
In community with our brothers and sisters in Christ we will find the comfort and love and support and guidance and healing we need to deal with our struggles whether inside or out.
By the way, the “healing” described in James 5:16 isn’t physical in nature.
The previous verse, James 5:15, talks about praying for one who is sick so that they can be made well.
But in verse 16 it is talking about spiritual and emotional healing!
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
When we have sinned and are wracked with guilt, when we feel overwhelmed by life, when we feel our situation is hopeless, when our failures threaten to overwhelm us and seek to define us, James says — “Pray for one another so that you may be healed!”
And the “healing” promised there is that which can only come from the love, mercy and grace of God as it is expressed to us by our brethren.
Probably the thing that prevents most of us from ever experiencing this healing is that we tend not to share what’s going on inside of us. We walk around day after day with a manufactured smile and a carefully chosen façade. Yet it is only when we open ourselves up to others and to God that the light of His love can enter in and dispel the darkness.
From all appearances Anthony Bourdain had the best life. But appearances were deceiving. Inside he was hurting and desperate for relief. And maybe that describes you. There is hope! There is healing! But not if you refuse to open yourself up to God and others. You must let in the light of God’s love if He is to dispel the darkness.