Hope in grief

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/24/hope-in-grief-2

The preacher at my local church articulated yesterday that the natural precedes the spiritual. For example, no matter how hard we pray, we will die one day. Of course, life and death are in the hands of God. As some say, there are two things we can not avoid in life – death and taxes.

I lost my mum in 2009 and lost my dad last year. So I’m technically an orphan, although the term usually depicts someone who lost their parents while they were young and had to grow up without their biological parents. Nevertheless, when I lost my parents, I had hope even though I grieved. They were both in the Lord and had been active serving Him when they passed on. Thus, I’m comforted that one day I will see them when Christ returns.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the passage of Scripture where Paul taught on the rapture of the living, and the dead in Christ rising again on His second coming. But it starts with an exaltation that we as believers not to grieve like others in the world because we have hope in Christ – the dead in Christ will rise again one day. Though they may die, they will live – for Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Coincidentally, this is the verse I had placed on the tombstone of my late father and mother and is our hope of glory in Christ. We know that one day, we will all be reunited with our loved ones who had died in Christ, whether family or fellow comrades and servants in the Kingdom of God.

I think the message today is to remain on the narrow path and be faithful to God’s calling for us. This is because for 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 to be real and to work for us, we have to be in Christ when Christ returns. There is thus a deep and strong motivation for us to be faithful to God. We will see our loved ones and our fellow servants of Christ again on that day! We look forward to that glorious day of reunification. We have hope in our grief, yes, but we ourselves must remain true to the cause.

Have a good and blessed week ahead! May the King of Glory continue to mould and transform us so that we may fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives!