Today I received a letter from a good friend who just lost a loved one. Let me predicate all this by stating my friend knows that her loved one is with our Lord, because my friend’s loved one was a follower of Christ Jesus like herself. All who put their faith in Jesus know the promise that to be absent from the body means we are Present with our Lord. (2Corinthians 5:-10) I do understand her mourning, because she misses her loved one dearly. For those confronted with the loss of a loved one, I often times use the following analogy to explain why we should actually rejoice the death of a saved Christian.
If you are planning to go across country with a loved one, but they change their plans and leave ahead of time. You know you cannot leave yet, but you do know you will be leaving at another time. You also know that your loved one will be there to greet you when you arrive. This is no different than if a beloved Christian friend, or family member, died before you. While we do feel sorrow for the absence of their physical body, we should not grieve their departure. I say departure instead of loss, because we know exactly where they are. As I already stated, as Christians we know that when we died we may be absent from the body but we are present with the Lord. So why would we want to be so sorrowful knowing they are where we wish we could be?
Would you be sorrowful if your loved one or friend went to Hawaii on a vacation but there were no way to contact them? You know they are having the time of their life, and soon you will be reunited with them. Well, know this dear sisters and brothers, your saved friends and loved ones who departed this destination before you, are truly having the time of their existence. An existence which will last an eternity with no pain, no sorrow, and no end. An existence we all, as Christians, long for. So why be sorrowful? Please feel joy for their early departure, knowing they just arrived at their desired destination a tad bit earlier than you will.
Now for the unbelievers losing a Christian loved one, I offer them the ability to know that one day they will see them, if they give their life to Jesus. However, the flip side is that if a Christians loses a loved one who was not saved, then they should mourn them and feel sorrow. For their unsaved loved one died with no chance for salvation. They will spend eternity in a place Jesus warns us where.
“Their worm does not die,
And the fire is not quenched”
(Mark 9:48)
So instead of crying when a saved believer dies, we should sing with joy that a loved one’s pain and suffering has ended. Knowing that they are where we too, wish we could be. I offer this, because of the way I see funeral processions handled in New Orleans, and regardless of how or why the tradition began, it always makes me feel that if a person is saved, then we should celebrate them going home to be with Jesus.
Maybe, as Christians, if we looked at life and death this way, then we would all be more like the Apostles who gave their all. Up to, and including death, to preach the Gospel. Never once considering the sorrow our death would bring to others, because we know our destination is secure. Maybe this is why Christianity is failing so badly in the United Staes today. Their is no sacrificial mindset that says I will be glad to die, if it means I can spread the Gospel. For what good is my faith, if I am unwilling to sacrifice that which this world has to offer for it?
In closing I will add this. For those whose children are now adults, I am sure many of you would rather leave this world today and get on with eternity in the very present of Christ Jesus. Yet I also bet you will suffer the pain in this world for the benefit of your loved ones who would not understand and thus be sad. Mind you, Paul tells us about his own dilemma on this matter in his letter to Philippi.
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from
my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
(Philippians 1:21-24)
So, if a fellow Christian leaves early, we should all be rejoicing that they are now where we wish we could be. Lord I pray those who have ears to hear, will hear Your voice and call upon Your Name , so when they leave this world, they too can be assured of an eternal existence in the very present of our Creator, and lover of our souls, Jesus Christ. Amen
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