Last night, I was again at a funeral parlor. This was my first time to visit a funeral parlor in Pampanga but as a pastor for some 25 years now, I have been in and out of funeral parlors and hospitals for countless of times now. I have been involved in a lot of funeral services as well. The elderly church member whose wife died yesterday morning was there grieving for his beloved wife of some 45 years. I was also greeted by their only daughter who took care of things.
It was a brief visit but the grieving family appreciated it. This reminded me of my own personal ordeal along with my wife, her mother and siblings that we went through a year ago when my elderly father-in-law died slowly of cancer. We learned and experienced a lot of things in life as we went through it. It was a maturing experience which God allowed us to go through.
Thankfully, death is not the end of it all. We are assured of God's great love and of his victory over death. The Lord reminds us and comforts us that "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? But thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:54-56 ).
The Lord also assures us that a time is coming when there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:4 ). He also assures us of the resurrection -- the hope of the dead. We will not all remain dead, but rather we will be changed, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51 ). Lord, thank you for these comforting and encouraging words. We hang on to this hope -- the hope of the resurrection.
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