"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."I went to a very sad, and very beautiful funeral yesterday, for a godly woman who spent her life loving and serving God. She asked to have this Bible passage read out at her funeral.
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:1-6
One blessing of a funeral, especially when it's for someone closer to us in age, is that it makes us reflect on our own mortality.
It was good to be reminded that, although we may grieve for the people and places we will leave behind when it's our turn to face death, if we trust in Jesus, we can be sure that God has prepared a new home for us, where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
image is by Segovia Alcazar from flickr.com
3 comments:
Thanks Jean.
This is the passage Andrew's Dad asked to be read at his funeral too.
Heather
Hello Jean.
I had a friend, a wonderful Christian woman, who died aged 48 of a brain aneurysm without any warning about a month ago. Her funeral was both very sad and also a great gospel event. Her sudden death has caused me to cling to Psalm 90:12 - "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" - a little more firmly...to make sure that each day counts for Him.
The other thing that really stood out for me was observing her three teenage children at her funeral as the minister, looking straight into their eyes, said, "Never be tempted to question God's goodness based on what has happened to you this week. Always measure His goodness against what He did for you at Calvary." Each of those three precious children nodded through their tears in definite agreement. In the face of this immense and unexptected tragedy, all three were firmly anchored in the hope found in Jesus.
And that, above all else, is what we want for our children - to have them firmly anchored in the Right way to go. Thankyou for your blog which is such an encouragement to do this important work.
Meredith
Thankyou, Heather and Meredith. What an amazing statement that minister made, Meredith! Thankyou for sharing the story.
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