Not Like the Rest

Not long ago a friend of mine said good-bye to her father.  His decades of life on the earth came to an end and his family and friends gathered for a time of remembrance and celebration of his life.  They miss him.  Yet, they also rejoice for him.  We understand the former but, at times, the latter confuses people.  After a death, how can people rejoice?  Look to the apostle Paul's words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

Paul wrote with Holy Spirit inspiration and conviction.  He reminded the Christians who first read his letter that their response to death can and should be different than the world's.  "World's" there referring to non-believers.  Christians have a great hope based upon the true words from the True God.  Thanks to God, Christians have hope in even the most difficult times.  In . . .

• the valley of the shadow of death
• the stormy seas
• world-wide pandemics
• relational difficulties
• persecution
• times of great uncertainty

Paul knew (experienced) that regularly.  Therefore, he encouraged his readers.  Do his words encourage you?

To help them (and us), Paul backed his statement with a grand explanation.

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1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 (NIV)
14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Go and encourage another with these words.

#ordinarylives