Morning by Morning, February 24, 2025 - Grieving Loss, but with the Hope of Peace and Joy “Through Jesus” Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let Your Light arise and shine in my heart and through my life today (Isaiah 60:1). ... Later this morning, I’ll join with friends and family of a loved one who’s passed on from this life to the next, through death and into eternal life. And as I wait for Your leading this morning, this Word comes to mind: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Of course we grieve when a loved one dies. Of course we feel the sorrow and the pain at the loss of life. And the deeper the love, the greater the pain of the grief. They’re not here with us physically anymore. They’re not here to hug and to hold; they’re not here to hold and to hug us. That’s a deep loss that must be grieved, that’s important to grieve. The grieving is a part of the releasing and entrusting to You. Because we are entrusting our loved one to You is why we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.” We still grieve, but we grieve with hope. We still grieve, but we grieve with a deep knowledge of the truth that our beloved one is with You. And they’ll still be with you when we see them again, when we both come together again in Your Presence, when we both hug and hold one another again in Your Presence. As Your Word goes on to declare in the next verses: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming to the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from Heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (v. 14-18). That’s our hope! That’s our joy! That’s our hope and joy we have in Jesus even in the midst of our grief and sorrow. That’s how we can fully grieve; and at the same, we can fully rejoice. It’s “through Jesus” (v. 14). It’s when our loved one is entrusted to Jesus and we are entrusted to Jesus. Being in Jesus and Jesus being in us makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference in how we do not grieve as the world grieves, as those who have no hope. And when we can grieve with this hope, with the One who fulfills our hope, with the One who is our Hope, we can rest assured in this Promise of God’s Word: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Thank You, Lord, for this great gift of Your mercy and love we have in You. Thank You for the hope we have, even the peace and joy we have even through our deepest griefs and sorrows, when our loved ones are in You and You are in us. That’s the great gift every one of us can have “through Jesus” -- through Your Presence with us “always” (Matthew 28:20)—not just when we go to heaven when we die, but with us right now in every moment of every day between this day and that day to come. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today. In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you know the peace and joy of the Lord Jesus in your heart, even through any grief and sorrow you go through becuase your hope in Him and He is in you, in Jesus'name. God bless you, my friend! And you have a great day!
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Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries 502 North Milam Street Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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