Dev: Nov 19-20 - 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Brothers and sisters,

we do not want you

to be uninformed about

those who sleep in death,

so that you do not grieve like

the rest, who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

 

When someone is shy and bashful, where do they look? 

 

Downward. 

 

It's cute when a child does it. When a little boy meets a pretty girl, what does he do? He usually looks down at his shoes! And his feet are usually pigeon-toed and digging at the dirt. It's cute look for a kid. 

 

But looking downward is not a cute look for an adult. Indeed, let's move beyond childhood bashfulness to the real reasons most adults look down -- discouragement and defeat. This world is hard. 

 

Hope, we've been saying, involves looking up -- looking up to the God who comforts and provides. 

 

Hope also involves looking forward. As we learned yesterday, we can be transformed by hope when we look forward to Christ's glorious return. Why? Because that ushers in the eternal age of no more mourning or crying or pain, where the throne of God will be among mortals. 

 

Yes, this world is hard, but quit staring at your feet! That was yesterday's message! 

 

Look upward.

 

Look forward. 

 

Yes, that was yesterday's message. And it's today's message too! We don't have to grieve just like the rest of this shoe-gazing world -- pigeon-toed and grinding our toes in the dirt. 

 

That's precisely what the Apostle says in today's  verse -- "Don't be uninformed and grieve like the rest. Rather focus on the best!" 

 

Focus upward. 

 

Focus forward. 

 

Death does not have the final world. 

 

Indeed, death is the gate to victory!

 

Yes, we'll still grieve. This world is hard and the Apostle admits precisely that. He's saying essentially, "Of course you'll grieve. I just don't want you to grieve like the rest of the world that has no hope." 

 

It's what everyone who grieves a major loss eventually tells me: "I don't know how people do it without God/faith/hope/the church."

 

Hope has the power to transform us. So keep focusing upward. And forward. 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's traded in

his little boy shoes

that used to bashfully

dig at the dirt