Therefore, you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.     John 16:22 NASB

When a Christian dies, it’s a homecoming.  It’s a celebration of their life.  Of course, family members mourn and grieve because they are going to miss that person.  But, if the family members are Christians also, it is not good-bye, it’s an “I’ll see you later”.  You see, you will see them again.  If the deceased was saved and you are saved then it’s just a temporary separation.  In John chapter 16, Jesus tries to explain this to His disciples.

Now what we must wrap our head around is this, we never know when death will occur.  There is no set age where people die.  There are no set circumstances, we just don’t know.   In John 16:21, Jesus compares death to child birth.  He talks about how a woman soon forgets the pains of childbirth because of her joy in holding her newborn baby.  So to continue with this comparison, think of how a woman prepares for the childbirth.  She gets the nursery ready, perhaps keeps a bag packed for the trip to the hospital, gets the items needed to take care of the baby on hand.  In the same way, we must prepare for our trip.  We must draw near to God and seek him.  We must prepare for our journey home.  You may take this journey in the next minute or maybe not for the next 50 years, who knows?  But you must be prepared.

Remember, it is perfectly natural to grieve when a loved one goes ahead of us to our heavenly home.  However, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 tells us that we are not to grieve like the rest of mankind who has no hope.

I don’t know how I would have made it through my dad’s death if he had not been saved.  None of us know who is truly saved and who is not saved, but their demeanor gives us a few clues.  As my former pastor used to say, we can inspect the fruit.  Death is a part of life, we must be prepared for it.

I encourage you to prepare for your own eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ and trusting in Him as your Savior.  Once you do this, ask Him to fill you with his Holy Spirit so that you will live in a way that lets those around you know where you are headed when your earthly life is over.  Then, do all you can to encourage your friends and family to do the same.  Think about it this way, if you fall overboard from a ship, you can’t save anyone else unless you first save yourself.  First grab onto that life preserver, then try to pull your friends and family to safety.

Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  In Isaiah 25:8, “He will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;  He will remove His people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.”

These two verses tell us that God will wipe away every tear.  Some of those that you love will refuse God’s word.  They will refuse to listen to what you have to say.  They will refuse to go to church.  They will refuse to seek God and draw near to Him.  They will use excuses like, “I don’t have time to go to church”,  or “I will do it later” or “I can worship God anywhere (but they won’t)”, or my personal favorite, “there are too many hypocrites in church”.  When we get to heaven and see that they are not there, we will be sad, but not for long. God is going to wipe away every tear.  We will no longer mourn or grieve for them because Heaven is a happy place.  It is a place of worship and praise where we will forever be content and pain free and worship our God.

So today, if you are not sure about your salvation or the salvation of a loved one, do whatever you can do to be sure.  Know that God is waiting for you with open arms.  The devil will try to tell you to wait, that you have plenty of time.  The devil will tell you to have your fun and not worry about such serious things as eternity, but remember the devil is a liar.  John 8:44 tells us that when the devil lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Do not let him deceive you.

Turn to God today.  Save yourself and then do all you can to save the ones you love and all of those around you.

Have a great day!