I read newspapers regularly, and I often read the obituaries. I see a picture and learn about a family. Young faces catch my eye.
This is not morbid curiosity. I understand the devastation of losing someone close to me. My mother died suddenly when I was 13 in a car accident. Reading the obituaries gives me the opportunity to pray for the families who are suffering.
Grief is in a class of emotional pain all by itself. It is agony. The harshness of being separated against your will from someone you love is brutal. Missing them is misery.
God knows we fear death. He understands how powerless it makes us feel. He understands how threatened we are by it and how deeply we feel the pain of grief.
Where can we find security in a world where death can come without warning? How can we live knowing we will die?
In John Chapter 10, verses 27 and 28 Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.” [NASB Bible]
God offers us something no human being can–the assurance that we have more than this life to live. God will give eternal life to you, your family and your friends. All those who believe in Him and the One He sent (Jesus) will be received personally by God Himself when they die.
Pray, open your heart to God, read the Bible and believe! Pray for your family and your friends to believe in God, too. Talk to the people in your life about God. If they are resistant or uncertain, pray for a change of heart. Lead whoever you can toward God.
The length of this life is unknown to us. No greater comfort exists than knowing that the ones you love are in the hands of God.