Death is NOT the End

This has been a week of sorrow. A longtime member of the church has passed on to glory. She was a pillar in her family and in the church for decades, and now there is a space in our lives that feels empty. Death is not a pleasant thing. If we are honest, we recognize that there’s something wrong with death. But it’s a reality in the world we live in, and no amount of positive thinking can rid this current world of it. However, we must also remember that death, for the Christian, is not the end. While our loved one is gone from this earth and we are unable to call them on the phone or visit with them, they are, in fact, still alive. When a Christian passes on, they are brought into the presence of the Lord of all creation and are now experiencing life more fully than they ever did here on this earth. Yes, we grieve our loss and tears pour down our faces, but those tears are for our loss, not theirs. We rejoice that our loved one is with the Lord. The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Paul is talking specifically about the resurrection to come, but notice what he says about mourning or grieving. Paul says that we are not to mourn for those who are in Christ like the rest of the world mourns. Those in the world have no hope, but Christians have the hope of eternal life.