When it comes to our Christian faith, all that we believe rests upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. I Corinthians 15:14
Our lives would be most miserable without the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. I Corinthians 15:18-19
The term fallen asleep describes someone who died and slipped into eternity. Without a resurrection, these souls are lost forever. Oh, the grief upon grief at this thought. Grief – that pain of mind, heart, and soul brought on by such loss. Yet, loss of any kind really. Loss of a job, loss of a marriage, loss of a relationship, loss of a loved one to death.
Some losses impact us far more than others. And there are some we will never get over this side of heaven.
While reading the book How to Get Through What You’ll Never Get Over by Bill Prater, I was greatly moved as Mr. Prater pointed out the faulty expectation we have that people should just get over life’s sorrows.
For example, let’s say some friends of yours are blessed with a child, and you send them a nice card that says, “Congratulations on the birth of your new baby.” Then five years later you get an invitation in the mail to that child’s birthday party. Who opens the invitation and says, “Another birthday party? Seriously? This is like five years in a row. Hey, we get it. You have a kid and you’ve had him for five years, but honestly, you really need to get over it.”
We don’t expect people to get over the birth of a child, so why should we expect them to get over the death of one?
This example in the book was an emotional reminder of the intense wave of grief I experienced a few years ago as I approached 25 years since the death of my first husband, Jeff. Jeff died February 6, 1996. For the entire month of January that year he had been in a coma and I had begged God for his life. As the 25th year of his homegoing approached, I was overwhelmed with grief.
It had been 25 years of my 3 children living without their father. And it was not just that, because God has given them a wonderful father in my husband Dan. It was that they never truly got to know Jeff, his love for God and his love for them as a father.
It had been 25 years of his parents living without their son. Loving my children as deeply as I do, I could not imagine their pain. Yet, they were and have been examples of strong faith in a loving good God through the years.
It had been 25 years of Jeff’s sister living without her brother. Her only sibling. She too, has been an encouragement and blessing to so many by her steadfast faith in Jesus Christ.
I thought about my own personal losses during that time. I wept for weeks as the anniversary of his death came upon us. Uncontrollably at times. I could not understand how I had never gotten over the loss, but I realized that honestly, I had never wanted to get over it.
But this I do know, I have gotten through it by the grace of God. And I truly mean by the grace of God alone.
Even as I am overwhelmed by grief at times, I simply cannot sorrow as those who have no hope. And why is that? Because I have hope!
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. I Thessalonians 4:13-14
The hope of the resurrection has brought healing to that sting of death. The risen Savior provides us with unwavering hope and immense comfort even through the pain of deep sorrow.
As I experience each wave of grief throughout my life, I am continually reminded of a Savior Who has conquered death and the grave. I am comforted by the presence of the One Whose grace is sufficient to carry me through every loss of any kind.
And this is how one is able to get through a loss one will never get over!
Loser Bible Study Series Theme Verse:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Mark 8:35
“Lose” from the Greek word “Apollymi” means “to destroy fully.” It is translated perished in I Corinthians 15:18, our verse for today.
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