1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Meditation

Posted by Seth on Dec 22, 2009 in Bible Study, Daily Devotions |

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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 wherein we are reminded of the great hope that Christians have even in their grieving.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

This past weekend a friend of mine, Pastor Steve Estes, went to be with the Lord very suddenly, passing away in his home on a chilly December morning, just steps away from the church that he served at faithfully. He and I had worked closely together serving a small rural church for nearly 3 1/2 years and remained in contact since then, occasionally meeting at a local coffee shop to catch up on ministry and family news. I think that actually we really in some ways connected the most with one another after our time of working side by side, which made the news of his passing more difficult on the one hand while also giving me a sense of great thankfulness for those times of fellowship.

Though I will miss him, I have had the passage at hand run through my mind on numerous occasions since hearing of his homecoming. It simply isn’t one of those Scriptures that means the same thing when you aren’t grieving–when everyone you care about is for the most part happy and well. But I am struck in these days by how incredibly true the message is. Almost immediately I was impressed by the fact that I can be filled with hope knowing that Steve is experiencing the most incredible time of his life. It seemed that the Thessalonians had some serious concerns about all those who were dying before Jesus returned, and it was Paul’s desire to inform them that they had nothing to worry about. Instead, he makes it clear later on that the deceased Christians will actually be the first ones to experience the resurrection of their bodies when Christ comes to claim His church. We can have confidence that God will take care of our deceased brothers and sisters because of what God has done in raising Jesus from the dead, displaying that death has no victory over those whose hope is in Him. He is, as the song says, “mighty to save.”

Such a realization should stir us up in a number of ways. We want to know, first of all, that we are truly among those who know Christ, who have accepted God’s gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins that He offers through the shed blood of Jesus. We would also want to know that the ones we love are ready to meet Him when they meet their day of physical death. Steve lived out these desires; let you and I follow his example and praise God that we can be among those filled with hope today and ceaseless joy forever.

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