Sermonette

Often, when I am out and about I listen to someone who shares how much they miss a loved one who has died. It’s quite a transition in life when that person whom you laughed with, confided in, cried with, could call everyday on the telephone is no longer there. It hurts. It truly does- Even when we know they are with the Lord, now in a place where there is no toil or pain, just eternal peace.The emptiness, the void of them no longer being here brings an awful, just awful, aching feeling in our heart. We long to talk to someone, someone who can truly understand what it is we are going through. May I suggest talking with our Heavenly Father in times such as these? Our Heavenly Father knows all about having soneone He loves dearly die. Remember, He watched His only Begotten Son die a horrible and tragic death on the cross two thousnad years ago. If anyone can relate to what a person goes through in having a loved one die, it is our Heavenly Father. If anyone yearns to listen to our cries of pain, it is our Heavenly Father. If anyone has concern and compassion and wants to reach out to those who are suffering the pangs of death of a loved one dying, it is our Heavenly Father. If anyone cares, day or night, for us when someone we love dies, it is our Heavenly Father. Peter wrote about this so well, in the book of First Peter, chapter 5, verse 7, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” He knows your thoughts right now, tomorrow and the next and the next. He understands. I think our Heavenly Father weeps and when we weep when a loved one dies, as Jesus did at the grave of Lazarus. And then think about these words the Apostle Paul wrote so long ago to the Corointhians. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Death was conquered when Jesus rose from the tomb. And you know what? When we confess Jesus as our Savior, we are given the promise that we will too! The promise of eternal life. The promise of a heavenly home. What a Savior we have in Jesus Christ! What a blessed hope we have in the promise of heaven. To be with Jesus. To be held in His arms as He welcomes us to our eternal home-heaven. We all have the choice for heaven. We all have the choice of Jesus being our Savior and we can ask anytime because Jesus always is and will be just a prayer away!