Did We Fail Him? Philip Seymour Hoffman

Yesterday, my secretary shared the sad news with me that a beloved actor that I have been watching over the years died. I am a fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman. I loved him, he was a great actor. I had a conversation with my assistant earlier today and my comment to her was, “Did we fail Philip Seymour Hoffman?”

Although I really haven’t kept myself abreast of what was going on in his life, from a media perspective that is, I know that there are many who have. He apparently had a life-long battle with drug addiction. I was wondering if we “failed:” him. As Christians, we should be praying adamantly for the Philip Seymour Hoffman’s of the world. In fact, when you read in the news or hear about someone who is struggling with an addiction or other problems, our first step should be “intercession”. We should have been offering up “intercessory prayer” to God for this man’s life, sending up petitions for mercy in prayer asking God to set him free from the demons of addiction and everything that facilitated and created the desire in the first place. This type of prayer is not just sent up once but over and over again until he was free. He was very valuable to his family, community and the world. We Christians are the “light of the world,” this is our watch. “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). God put us here just for situations like this one. Next time you read or hear about someone whose life is being destroyed, pray. Everyone pray.