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About a week ago, a long time and very dear friend departed to that land from whence no traveller has ever returned. It is for many of us, a difficult and often fearful time in a way to face the final calling, and for all of us, a sad time to lose someone so dear.
At her celebration of life service, I read the following
1 Peter 5: 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
The suffering, the sadness, that we all had while mourning, and for her, we hope, the restoration through God's Grace.
But I found myself thinking, as we as human often do, placed on this Earth for just a brief time.
No one knows withone hundred percent certainty what awaits in the afterworld or if there even is one. The debate has raged for centuries amongst philosophers, theists, and scientists as to whether an afterlife even exists. And within the confines of various religions the definition of what it is where it is and who is involved seems to be quite a topic of discussion, and sadly, at times an argument. But that is not what I'm writing about today.
I'm writing about hope.
Hope as alluded to in the above scripture which I read at the service. Hope is central and basic to our faith and our experience.
For one, many of us hope for an afterlife. We hope to be reunited with long lost friends and family. It is a very sad bought for me to think that I will never see my friend again. But the scriptures tell us to Hope in God's grace and to be restored.
But as humans that sometimes sounds like a task we cannot undertake. Find ourselves being impatient or being discouraged or thinking that perhaps our hopes and wishes are displaced.
A wise man once told me "Never trample on someone`s hopes and dreams, for it might be all that they have."
Hope then, is not just an idle wish for something, but that part of us which allows us to build faith in something......the Faith we have that we will be restored, and to build on those hopes through faith and the Grace of the Lord. And Hope may be all that someone has but all that they need at that moment, for through that Hope, they will develop faith through Gods Love.
I will admit that I do not know for certain, if I will see her again in the afterlife. But I hope that I will, and I have Faith and Believe that I will. And this is why I remind myself of what Luke said,
That we cannot through worry, add another hour to our life.
As a human being, that is what I can do.
Hope, Faith, Grace and Love mean no worry, no doubt and no fear. We have our life, being restored as we wait upon the Lord to restore us, through Faith and gy theGrace of God's Love.
I close now with
2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way
Sympathies on the loss of your friend. On the other hand, if your friend was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ she is now at home with the Lord in heaven.
In the Christian faith 'hope' means confidence. Not 'I hope so.' In the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised. The believer in Jesus Christ should have confidence that what has been revealed in the Bible, which is God's revelation to man, is true. Faith and hope are related terms.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Confidence concerning life after physical death need not be based on whether you have personally had a life after death experience, but based rather on the faithfulness of God to keep His promises.
Last edited by Michael Way; 02-04-2019 at 09:00 AM..
A lovely post, AustinDallas. I'm sorry for the sadness you are feeling, and appreciate your desire to share your reflections and hope with others who may also be in the midst of grief when they read your post. That's a thoughtful thing to do.
I have found a lot of solace in near death experience testimonies. Kevin Williams site Near death.com is a good place to start. If people's testimonials are anything to go by, the reality is very little like orthodoxies derived from bible narrative, which can be quite confusing. The reality appears to be straightforward and universal / common to all. If there's any differences associated with believers 'opportunities' on the other side then these are not explicitly understood from NDE testimonials.
You can be saved by grace and a simple belief in THE gospel...........
1COR 15:Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day pin accordance with the Scriptures,
Tho, we may not know exactly what is in store for us...some of us, I will say 'I', find peace
trusting 100% in God or the System of Perfection...that wherever I will be as, right now, will be the
perfect place. Wherever I am ...I'm right there.
And it helps to maybe have read more NDEs, and communications from the Other Side for over
50 years than anyone! Ha!
My mom had books in the house when I was a teen even.
Best to you.
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