January 17, 2014 (Friday)
This weekend will see the funerals of two of my dearest friends, Charlie Marshall and Ben Howard. January has become a month of remembrances for me and my family as many of our loved ones passed away in January.
Our sadness at the passing of loved ones and friends is tempered by our faith.
Our spirit goes to be with the Lord immediately upon death. Our last moment on earth blends with our first feelings of joy in Heaven as we behold the face of our dear Savior. Paul put it this way: “Absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV). The body is left behind, but the person who inhabited that body goes to be with the Lord.
In due time, the body itself will be raised from death, changed and glorified (1 Corinthians 15). The spirit and the body will be reunited. Long ago the Christians in Thessalonica became concerned about the fate of their loved ones who had died. They contacted the Apostle Paul and asked him about it. Here’s what he wrote to them: “I can tell you this directly from the Lord: that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with this news” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 TLB).
As Ethel Waters used to say as she sang about the Lord, “You just can’t lose when you know the Lord.”