It’ll feel so much better when it stops hurting.
A friend, whom I’ve known since childhood, is about to go home. He might already be there by the time you read this.
It was this friend whom the Spirit used to invite me to hang with a group of Jesus believers who showed me His love. It was because of his faith that I chose to put my faith in Jesus Christ for life then, now and into eternity.
When he steps into eternity, he will experience love and joy like never before. He will see the One He’s loved all these years face to face. His pain will be over.
The hurt will then begin for his wife, his children, his grandchildren and his friends, myself included. We are going to experience the absence of his smile, sense of humor and just plain making others around him feel good. Death hurts the living.
Up to this point, the Lord used my friend in our lives. The gap that will come through his absence, though, can be filled with and by Jesus.
This is nothing but another painful life lesson for us all. Scripture tells us repeatedly to die to self – our dreams, our plans, and our way of handling life. Death hurts the living.
As we do, there will be gap. We can choose to let Jesus fill that gap or we can fill it with something else that will have to be removed later.
Yes, death hurts the living. But it can also be a time of joy as we choose to let Jesus be God and do what only God can do…replace our temporary character with His eternal character.
Death hurts, yes. But as my mom used to tell us kids, “It’ll hurt a lot less when it quits hurting.” Let your hurt cause you to turn to the Source of Life Changing Healing – Jesus.