One of my favorite times is when our whole family gets together for dinner at our house. Usually our grandson Silas does not want to go when his parents are ready to leave. Often, he will end up spending the night with us. When this doesn’t work out, he can become upset. What best tempers his discontent is the promise that he will get to come and stay on another day.
Saying goodbye can be extremely hard at times. When people we love and care about leave us for a time we have a sense of loss. We will miss them but find solace in the promise that we will be together again.
This week I and many others had to say goodbye to a good friend Efrain Lopez. Efrain died last Tuesday. But like Silas, I take comfort in a promise that we will be together again. It is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote,
1 Thessalonians 4:13
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
He did not say we would not grieve, that we would not miss them. But our sorrow is tempered by the knowledge that those who have received Christ have an eternity together to look forward too.
1 Corinthians 15:52-57 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Goodbye Efrain. I will see you later!
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