Wednesday 25 November, 2020

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

No matter which culture we belong to, the universal response to the loss of something precious is grief. It’s the process we go through to come to terms with the change in our lives. In this passage Paul calls us not to grieve as they who have no hope. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have a significant emotional response to our loss but rather that, in this situation, we have a peace that we will be gathered together with the believers who have already passed away and that together we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore, despite our great sadness there is hope for our future because of Jesus death and resurrection. Praise God!

Dear Lord, we praise you and thank you that you desired for us to be made righteous so that we are able to spend eternity in your presence. That you made a way for this to happen through your very great sacrifice and we look forward to your return. Amen

Written by Jocelyn Petschack