{"id":305,"date":"2015-03-23T16:16:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T20:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tloah.com\/?p=305"},"modified":"2015-09-19T22:01:47","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T02:01:47","slug":"when-a-christian-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/?p=305","title":{"rendered":"When A Christian Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is hard to lose a loved one, friend, or fellow church member who shared your faith in Jesus.\u00a0 You worshipped together, prayed together, studied the Bible together, talked of spiritual things, or shared your successes and failures in the Christian walk.\u00a0 Your brother or sister in Christ was one of God\u2019s gifts to you.\u00a0 Then the Lord saw fit to take them home to Heaven, and you are left to continue your life without them.\u00a0 How should you face this loss?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider three proper responses to this change in your life.\u00a0 You should respond with thanksgiving<\/b><\/strong>, rejoicing<\/b><\/strong>, and trust<\/b><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/b><\/strong> is to be expressed to God and others for the Christian who blessed your life.\u00a0 Paul spoke often of Christians he remembered, even though he was removed from them (Phil. 1:3; \u00a0II Tim. 1:3-5; I Thess. 1:3). He thanked God for their faith and their contribution to his life (Romans 1:8; I Cor. 1:4; Eph. 1:15,16; Phil. 1:3; Col. 1:3; I Thess. 1:2; II Thess. 1:3).\u00a0 When God takes a Christian from your life, you should reflect on their contribution to you and His work and be thankful.\u00a0 Sorrow should never remove your thankfulness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rejoicing<\/b><\/strong> is to be expressed to God and others over the wonderful blessing that death has brought to your fellow Christian.\u00a0 Your loss has been great, but their gain has been out of this world!\u00a0 They are present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8), which is far better than anything they enjoyed on this earth (Phil.1:23).\u00a0 Love for them desires the best for them, and they have gone on to the best.\u00a0 They are in Heaven, seeing their Savoir and enjoying all the blessings of the place He has prepared for them (John 14:2).\u00a0 They are in a place where there is no sin, death, sickness, pain, sorrow, tears, regrets, disappointments, frustrations, or fears.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow! What a place!\u00a0\u00a0 You must think of them and rejoice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trust<\/b><\/strong> is to be placed in your Lord Jesus.\u00a0 He has not made a mistake, because He never does.\u00a0 It was His time to take the Christian you love.\u00a0 Their death is part of His perfect plan, and He has promised to work it together for your good (Rom. 8:28).\u00a0 This loss to you was not God working against you, because He never works against the child of God.\u00a0 God always works for the believer (Psalm 56:9; Romans 8:31; II Cor. 4:17).\u00a0 God is a person who loves us at all times (Rom. 8:38,39) and proved that love by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8).\u00a0 He has also revealed to us that He cares about us when we face trials and asks us to cast all of our troubles on Him (I Peter 5:6,7).\u00a0 The days ahead, without the Christian who meant so much to you, can be faced with confidence, because you trust God.\u00a0 He asks you to trust in Him with all your heart, not to rely on your own understanding, and He promised that He will direct your path (Proverbs 3:5,6).\u00a0 He will someday take you home to Heaven, and you will find that His plan was perfect.\u00a0 Wait on the Lord and remain faithful to Him.\u00a0 Your friend\u2019s walk of faith is over, but yours is still progressing. \u00a0Walk it well. \u00a0It won\u2019t be long till your walk also comes to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Earl<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is hard to lose a loved one, friend, or fellow church member who shared your faith in Jesus.\u00a0 You worshipped together, prayed together, studied the Bible together, talked of Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tloah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}