We Have Hope in Times of Grief   

Recently we took a day trip to visit our son and his family who live about two and a half hours away from us. Because of the distance, we don’t get to see them as often as our other children and grandchildren who live closer. After having an enjoyable visit, we announced that we were going to have to leave. Our three-year-old grandson started to cry, expressing his sadness about our departure. We hated to see him cry, but at the same time it was heartwarming to know that he loved us and wanted us to stay. Finally, we were able to comfort him with the reminder that it would not be too long before he would be coming to our house to visit us. Getting him focused on looking ahead to our next reunion seemed to reduce his grief over the fact that we were leaving him at the moment.

I thought of that scene with our grandson as I prepared to attend a funeral a few days later. When a loved one leaves this life, it can be difficult. We don’t want that person to go. We grieve over the loss that we experience. It isn’t going to be the same without him or her. We have precious memories of our time together. In many cases, our time spent with that person spanned not just a few hours of a day trip but years, maybe even our whole lives. We don’t want it to end.

Such grief is understandable. It reveals and expresses our great love for that person. However, we shouldn’t get mired down in the natural sadness we can feel on those occasions. This is especially true when we have assurance that the person who left this life was putting his trust in Jesus as his Savior. Like in our grandson’s case, we can choose to focus less on our current loss and more on our future reunion with that person. Of course, this is assuming that we ourselves also are enjoying a right relationship with God through faith in Christ. If so, then we can look ahead to the time when we will be going to where he is one day. This isn’t the end. We will see our loved one again. He has left us, but we will be going to meet up with him at the better place where he now resides. We will have a wonderful reunion at our Lord’s house – our heavenly home.

The Bible reminds us that while we grieve, we shouldn’t “sorrow as others who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13). We know that death doesn’t have the final word. We remember that Jesus has won the victory over sin and the grave. His resurrection proves that there is life after death, and a glorious life for those who follow Him. Therefore when we experience the loss of a loved one, we can echo the sentiments expressed by David at the death of his infant son – “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Samuel 12:23).

We can’t bring our departed family members and friends back to us. And to be honest, if they are in the presence of the Lord, they will not want to come back. What they are experiencing now is so much better than even the best of circumstances on this earth. However, we can be comforted in the fact that we will go to them. And that is what we need to focus on as we move forward.  

We can grieve. We can shed tears over our loss. However, we can also rejoice in the hope we have of a future reunion. Let’s keep looking ahead to that glorious day.

 

Look to God for a Needed Boost   

One day I was walking down our church driveway when I noticed a box turtle at the edge of the pavement. Apparently it had crossed the driveway and was trying to climb over the curb to get back into the yard. However, it appeared to be stuck. It was pointed heavenward as it had been attempting to scale that cement protrusion, but wasn’t able to get over the hump. Now it was just sitting there in its upward position against the curb as if it had given up, didn’t know what to do, or simply couldn’t move. Therefore I took a moment to lift it up over what must have seemed to it to have been an insurmountable obstruction and placed it on the other side in the yard where it could continue its journey. It took very little effort on my part, as well as just a moment of my time, but it made a big difference for that turtle.

Sometimes we need a boost as we journey through life with the Lord. In reality, we are always dependent on Him and couldn’t get anywhere without His help. Jesus commented that “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We may need to put forth some effort and take some steps to get there, but without the Lord working in us and watching over us we couldn’t make any progress in our desire to know Him, to live for Him, to serve Him, and to eventually make it to our heavenly home one day.

However, sometimes we get stuck or slowed down by challenges or may just find ourselves weary and tempted to stop struggling to move forward. Like that turtle, we try to climb upward, but sometimes it seems too hard for us. We try to follow God and live according to His will as revealed in the Bible, but our world today puts all kinds of obstacles and temptations in our path that make it so difficult. We want to follow God’s call to be a holy people, but that goal seems so lofty and unreachable for fallible and weak human beings like us. We want to love others as Christ loves us, but certain people get on our nerves and make it so hard to do. We want the Lord to use us to serve Him and impact those around us, but there are so many obstacles to have to climb over in order to get there. We hit a curb and get stuck.

Thankfully, the Lord can give us a boost when we need it. I don’t think that turtle was praying for help, but he was looking upward when I encountered him. And that is what we need to keep doing too. Look to the Lord for the assistance you need. He may provide it directly Himself through His supernatural intervention, through encouragement from His Word, through reviving your soul, or through a fresh outpouring of His Spirit on you. Or He might do it indirectly through sending someone your way to lift you up and give you a helping hand. When you are stuck at a curb, pray and trust the Lord for guidance and help.

We should also be open to opportunities the Lord may give us to be the boost or help someone around us may need. Maybe God wants us to be the one to lift up someone else who is struggling. And strangely enough, I have discovered that as we help others, it tends to give our own lives a boost.

 No hurdle is so big that God can’t lift us over it. Let’s trust Him to give us that extra boost when needed, as well as to enable us to be a help to others.

 

Act before the Opportunity Is Gone   

On a recent Sunday, several of us from our church went out to eat at a local restaurant. We were saying goodbye to a family that was moving to another state. What we didn’t realize at the time is that we were also saying goodbye to this eating establishment. The next day we heard that it had closed down. Although we had still frequented the restaurant, we knew that its customer base had dwindled considerably over the past few years. So although this closing wasn’t completely surprising, it still was disappointing as we had eaten many meals there and had some fond memories associated with the place.

This sudden and unexpected shutdown reminds us that we never know when we might be experiencing something for the last time. We don’t know if it might be our final time to visit a particular location. We don’t know if this might be our last conversation with an individual. We don’t know what tomorrow, or even the next hour, may hold in store for us. Some endings are known beforehand and we can prepare for them, as we did for that family that was relocating. Other times things change without any prior warning.

With that in mind, we would do well to pay attention to some biblical admonitions. “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). “Come now you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).

Let’s be careful about procrastinating. We don’t know when doors of opportunity might suddenly slam shut due to changing circumstances. Let’s do what we can do today while we are still able to do it. Tomorrow we might wake up to a different world – a different economy, a different family situation, a difference in our physical health – or we might not even wake up at all. Let’s not take tomorrow for granted.

Likewise, let’s not leave situations unresolved that could result in regrets later. This especially holds true concerning our relationships. Don’t let anger, resentment, and bitterness marinate in your heart and mind. Seek to make amends with anyone who may be holding something against you. Make reconciliation more of a priority. Don’t wait for the other person to take the initiative. While complete healing of a relationship may be dependent on the willingness of the other person involved, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).   

Above all, don’t delay in taking care of any business with God that is needed. That relationship with Him is the most important of all. Let’s make sure that there is no willful sin standing between us and the Lord. Have we repented and found His forgiveness? Do we have the peace that comes from knowing all is well with our soul? And are we faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities He has given us to do until either He returns or we leave this world?

We never know when things will change and opportunity will be lost. So let’s take care of those important matters today.

 

Let’s Follow the Real Golden Rule   

Recently one of the vice-presidential candidates claimed that he and the state he represents follows what he referred to as “the golden rule” and recommended that we all ought to live by it. However, he wasn’t thinking of the principle in the Bible we have come to call by that name. It was quite a different idea. I won’t quote it exactly as he put it, since he seems to be yet another politician who likes to use profanity, possibly in order to sound tougher or to relate to certain people. His golden rule was basically this: “mind your own business.” 

It is interesting to see what kind of moral guidelines people come up with when they reject the teachings of scripture. Their ideas pale in comparison to what Jesus taught and what God knows is the best for both individuals and society. If we were all to live by this politician’s golden rule, our world would be far less loving and much more selfish and isolated.

Jesus taught us differently. Think about the parable of the good Samaritan as recorded in Luke 10:25-37. This is the familiar story about a man who was left injured on the side of the road after being attacked by thieves. The bad examples in this account are the two individuals who walked by and decided simply to “mind their own business.” The priest and the Levite refused to get involved and to help the victim of this crime. The hero in the story was a Samaritan who had compassion on the man and refused to mind his own business. He helped the man and saw that his needs were taken care of. Jesus pointed to him as the role model for what it means to be a neighbor, saying that we need to “go and do likewise.”

Elsewhere in the Bible we find the misguided principle of this politician being refuted. Paul plainly declared, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). We have a responsibility to seek to do what is good for those around us, not just to keep to ourselves or look out for what is best for us. In another scripture, Paul tells us to “bear one another’s burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Maybe he was thinking about what Jesus affirmed as being one of the greatest commandments - to love our neighbor as ourselves. Or maybe Paul was pointing back to that actual statement which has traditionally been called the golden rule – “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (Luke 6:31), or the common paraphrase, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

As followers of Christ, love compels us not to simply mind our own business. Love draws us to help those in need. Love drives us to share the good news of salvation with those who are lost. Love moves us to get out of our comfort zones and to reach out to people who are different from us. Love gives us the courage to speak the truth to those who are blind to its reality. It would be a sin for us just to mind our own business while people around us are suffering, while our society is being led into falsehoods, while souls are traveling on the road toward destruction, and while innocent lives are being taken.

God knows what we need and what our world needs today. It isn’t to mind our own business. It is to love as Christ loves and to treat others the way we would want to be treated. 

 

Are You Looking More Like Jesus?   

After our newest grandchild was born last week, I was asked a common question by several curious individuals – “Who does he look like?” When newborns arrive, we often try to discern who he resembles the most. Is it his dad? Mom? One of his siblings? Maybe even a grandparent? As is often the case, on the actual day he was born I couldn’t figure out any such similarities to other family members. He just looked like a newly birthed baby. However, when I saw him again a few days later, I thought that I recognized some similarities between a couple of his facial expressions and those of one of his brothers or his father. It is still too early to be able to say for sure. Time will tell. But regardless of whomever he may share some physical characteristics with, he will always be his own unique person.

  That is the way it is, or should be, when it comes to us and Jesus. If we have experienced the spiritual birth that our Savior referred to in John 3, then we should resemble Him in some ways. I like the way it is put in Romans 13:14, where we are exhorted to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”. Although the wording suggests putting on Jesus in a similar way to which a person might pull a shirt on over his head or slip his arms into a jacket, that isn’t really how we come to look like Jesus. It doesn’t occur from simply putting on an outward appearance of Christlikeness. It isn’t the result of donning a mask or a holy robe that causes us to share those qualities that we associate with Jesus. It starts on the inside.

If our new grandson does end up looking like someone else, it won’t be because he has altered his outward appearance in order to do so. It will be because of his genetic makeup. It is what is on the inside that will make him resemble his brother or his father. And that is how it works with us too. We need to be changed on the inside in order for us to look like Jesus outwardly. We must have His Spirit living in us in order for those characteristics to shine forth in our lives. We do clothe ourselves with Jesus, but it springs forth from within us – from having been born of the Spirit and our yielding to His work in our hearts.

However, even then, let’s not think that we are going to look exactly like Jesus. Sometimes we may pray for God to get “self” out of the way and let people only see Jesus in us. While that may be a valid request, let’s not expect God to do something He doesn’t intend to do. He still wants us to be us. He created you as a unique individual. He doesn’t want to completely wipe you out of the picture and replace you with Jesus. No, He wants you to let Jesus live in and through you. Jesus’ characteristics should be becoming more evident in our lives, but they are manifested through our unique personalities and abilities. Granted, anything in ourselves that is sinful or selfish or that is contrary to those Jesus-like qualities needs to be removed or changed. However, the goal isn’t to get rid of who we are. It is to make us, with our particular traits, resemble Jesus more and more.

Our new grandson may share traits with other family members, but he will always be a unique individual. And so are we as followers of Jesus. Let Him work in you to make you more like Him, but He still wants you to be you – the best and most Christlike you that you can be.

 

Tell a Friend about Jesus 

As another birthday approaches next month, over the past weeks I have discovered one of the consequences of this event marking my sixty-fifth year. Since it means that I will now be eligible for Medicare, I have been inundated with daily mailings and phone calls soliciting my participation in various group’s healthcare plans. The barrage has been relentless, even offering me free dinners to come to listen to their informational meetings or sales pitches. I have ignored virtually all of those inquiries, not knowing who can be trusted or who can’t. In addition to legitimate venders who simply want your business, there are always scammers around seeking to take advantage of people. Therefore, when I did pursue information and assistance in this matter, I resorted to someone from whom a couple of friends had received help. I valued their recommendation much more than some unknown salesperson over the phone or internet.

This should remind us of the value of personal connections when it comes to sharing our faith with others. As churches and individuals reach out to the people around them, there can be a place for mass mailings, huge events, and conversations with total strangers. However, people tend to respond most readily to recommendations and testimonies coming from individuals whom they know and trust.

A couple of the best biblical examples of this are found in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. After Andrew had spent some time with Jesus, he “found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus” (1:41-42). The next day Jesus called Philip to follow Him. Philip then found Nathaniel, told him about Jesus, and invited him to “come and see” for himself (1:43-46). In each case, these individuals who had encountered Jesus did something very natural and effective. They simply told someone close to them about this wonderful news. They wanted to introduce their family member or friend to the same person whom they had met. They wanted others to experience what they had experienced.

Sometimes we can overcomplicate our efforts at witnessing and evangelism. We can make it all about memorizing dialogue, gathering data about people groups, and making ourselves or our churches as attractive as possible. And those factors or methods may need to be considered and utilized. However, nothing can take the place of one friend or acquaintance simply sharing with another what he has found or what has helped him. Our best method often involves talking to someone we already know about Jesus and encouraging that person to “come and see”.

I was watching a church service online last Sunday afternoon when one of the worship leaders asked the congregation how many of them had friends outside the walls of their church. While most people raised their hands, apparently a few didn’t. She commented that maybe they needed to make a few such friends. Then she proceeded to encourage everyone to invite one friend to church the next Sunday.

For some of us, most of our friends may be in the church. That tends to be the case especially for those who have followed the Lord for many years. Could it be that our first step needs to be to enlarge our circle of acquaintances? Get to know some new people. Start building some relationships. Then you will have an avenue for sharing your faith with those individuals. They will value what you say when you tell them about the Lord and what He means to you.

Whom do you know to whom you can be a Philip or an Andrew? They may need an acquaintance like you to point them to the good news and to bring them to Jesus.  

 

Have a Positive Impact on the Children 

Last week I received a phone call from my former college roommate letting me know that he was a grandfather now. His first grandchild had been born the previous day. After congratulating him on this joyous event, I decided to share my perspective as a longtime grandparent of more than 18 years, as well as someone preparing to welcome his eighth grandchild into the world within the next couple of weeks. I confirmed what a joy the smiles, laughter, and other interactions with those little ones can be. However, I also shared my belief that having a positive, Christlike influence on those grandchildren is one of our biggest purposes during this season of our lives.

In Matthew 18, Jesus talked about the impact we can have on “little ones”. While He may have intended for these truths to apply also to God’s children through faith, or believers, within the context it seems to be referring mainly to young people. They are words to remember in connection with all children, whether they are our own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, the children at church, or the kids in our neighborhood. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (v.5) “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones” (v.10). “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (v.14). We should especially pay attention to Jesus’ word of warning – “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (v.6). Jesus considered it a serious matter to negatively impact such a child!

Let’s make sure we are being faithful role models and godly examples to the children within our circle of influence. We should be seeking to point them to Jesus. We can sow the seeds of truth and God’s Word into their lives. We can show them the same kind of great love that God has shown to us. We can pray for them.

As students and teachers head back to school, it should remind us what an impact that experience can have on young people. What they are taught, what they see in their teachers, and how they interact with classmates can have a profound effect on their lives. Therefore we need to be praying for all those involved as they begin another school year. Pray that students will be discerning when it comes to the content of what they may be taught in the classroom. Pray that they will be able to recognize what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. Pray for their protection, both physically and spiritually, from the dangers lurking in our society today, including in our schools. Pray that they will choose their friends wisely.

Likewise, let’s pray for the teachers. Pray that they will have wisdom in knowing how to carry out their duties and to appropriately handle discipline in the classroom. Pray that they will truly care for their students and seek what is best for them. Especially pray for Christian teachers who seek to be a godly influence on their students. Pray that they will be faithful to their Christian values as some of them work within an environment that may not be favorable toward their faith or may even be working against it.

Children are important to Jesus. They should be important to us too. Let’s be a positive influence in their lives. And let’s pray for them, including that their school experience will be a good one.