What can you say about grief? It is a disruptive reality. There are many things you will grieve over in this world, especially the loss of a loved one. “To everything there is a season; a time to be born and a time to die.” We rejoice at the birth of a baby, and we grieve when we lose someone special in our lives. Grief is guaranteed in your life, but there is something different for us who believe in Jesus. Paul wrote, “We grieve, but not as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).” Grief is real and it’s OK to grieve, but if you know Christ, you grieve in a different way than unbelievers. They have no hope, but you do.
What is your hope as you grieve? David’s son was sick, and David fasted and prayed he would recover. When his son died, David washed and ate and worshipped. The people were dumbfounded and asked him how he could do that, and David explained, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me (2 Samuel 12:22–23).” David believed in resurrection and life after death; he would see his son again one day. That is the hope of a believer in Jesus.
Or consider what Jesus Himself did and said: a man named Jairus came to Him and said, “My daughter is dying, please come and heal her.” Jesus replied, “Do not fear, only believe.” When He came to Jairus’ house, He saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. He entered in and asked, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” Taking her by the hand, He said to her, “Little girl, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement (Matthew 5:23–24, 35–42). This is hope in the midst of grief that people who don’t know Christ can’t have or understand.
The good news is that those who have died in Christ will be raised with glorious new bodies when He returns. Paul explains this hope we have: “Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. We will not see Him before those who have died, but the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:14–17).” You can be encouraged because of this, even now in your time of grief. We know to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21); the world doesn’t believe or understand this. Your grief is real, but don’t lose hope, the hope you have in Jesus.