August 2010
Rev. Kenneth Miller, Pastor
“The Helper, Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.” John 14:26
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As your pastor, one of the responsibilities I have is dealing with the loss of life. It’s not easy and it’s not pleasant. In fact, there really is no one who can deal with it perfectly. However, as a pastor, I am constantly in touch with scriptures and hymns that remind us to trust God and to trust Jesus. Some of the scriptures that come to mind are John 4:1-6, John 3:16, Philippians 4:13, Psalm 23, Psalm 46, Romans 8:28, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and Romans 8:31-39.
Some of the hymns that invoke trust in God and Jesus are: “It Is Well With My Soul”, “Blessed Assurance”, “God Will Take Care of You”, “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”, “Amazing Grace”, “Through It All”. These scriptures and these hymns have blessed untold millions of people for they speak of a God who does understand and One who has made provisions for us. Why do I mention this? These past months, our church has had to deal with death. We have lost some of our blessed saints. We have had to stop what we were doing and acknowledge that death is inevitable and real. However, we should also remember that we are not those who trust without hope. We have the words of the perfect gentleman, Jesus Christ. Jesus, as we know, never lied. He was without sin. So when He tells us that we have a “place prepared” for us, we can take Him at His word. When He said that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and those who believe in Him would not parish but have everlasting life”, we can be assured that it is true!
Yes, death is unpleasant. In fact, it is called the last enemy; however, this enemy does not have the last word. God does. That’s what makes Christianity the only religion that is real and matters; otherwise, we would have no reason for being, for we are meant to be citizens of Heaven someday.
So as we face the hard times of loss of life, let’s grieve. We should also be sad, but we should never believe that death is the end. It will only be the beginning of the next phase of life. A lady asked me the other day, “Hey Pastor, what happens to your soul after your body dies?” I told her “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 5:8
So read the scriptures, sing the blessed hymns. As you do, believe what they say, understand what they reveal. There is a place for all of us who call Jesus our Lord. Paul’s words are instructive here for he said, “to live is Christ, to die is gain”. Philippians 1:21
In His Service,
Ken
