18-Dec-14

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. Isaiah 49:13Comfort.  This is what we all long for when death of a loved one knocks at our door.  We want comfort, that nebulous ‘feel better’ moment when we can have hope.  It doesn’t come with comfort food. It doesn’t come with forgetting through physical means.  Comfort comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ.  The kind of comfort that provides hope and gives us a destination.It is when the life of someone is celebrated because the life was lived in and through Jesus Christ.  That kind of life is a gift.  That life is a challenge.  That life lived through Jesus and in Jesus gives those left behind direction and hope and peace.Many years ago, I first read the beginning verses of John 14.  This spells hope.  There is room and a life after death built on belief in Jesus Christ.  The27th verse of the same chapter ties the ribbon on the gift that is promised to those who believe….”Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”Living unafraid means being responsible to believe.  Living without blaming or making excuses, it is a state of wonder how God is answering prayer.  It is God guiding us and teaching us to make us ready to re-locate after death in God’s house.  It is all because God is love and loves us so much.  That is comfort.