His Truth and Presence: The Way through Grief – Purity 736

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a golden retriever apparently navigating his own boat in the setting sun comes to us from a brother and a friend who shared this photo among many others on social media yesterday to remember and honor his faithful canine companion who was called into eternity after suffering from cancer for the last 12 months. But in my friend's post, he didn't focus on the pain and suffering, but instead gave a heartwarming testimony of the adventures in life that he and his canine friend had through the years. Similarly, similarly, and not to equate or compare the two losses, I was saddened to see that a friend's mother Another friend's mother had also died yesterday after years of suffering from the devastating effects of Alzheimer's disease. I had a small idea of my friend's pain from dealing with his mother's condition, and of course this was in the midst of other losses as his wife's, his wife's mother passed away last year. Sometimes our cup of suffering seems to be full, and And the thing we dreaded the most, death, comes as a relief as our loved one's pain is ended. My friend acknowledged the truth of the suffering his mother had gone through in the announcement of her passing, but also focused on the love that she had given her family as a mother and grandmother. Her love, presence, and support for her family was displayed throughout her life. And this is what my friend is focusing on. So obviously it's not going to be necessarily be a banner weekend for a pair of my friends after the loss of their loved ones is fresh, but that is okay. The best way to process the grief of losing a loved one is to acknowledge the pain of the loss, remember the great value of the relationship that has changed forever, and to say goodbye to the way things used to be. We all grieve in our own way and in our own timing, but the Word of God indicates that we are to always give thanks, always pray, always rejoice, and keep moving forward into the upward call of Christ. In our grief, a relationship with God and a knowledge of the truth of reality as it is revealed to us in Scripture can give us peace and strength to endure any suffering and all loss. The Bible is straightforward in dealing— in delivering the truth of life and death, and in times of loss, we are reminded of the extreme importance of faith in Jesus Christ and a biblically based worldview of eternity. The Lord wanted us to know the truth, and he inspired the Apostle Paul to share it in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, which says, for we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, that is, when we die and leave this earthly body, We will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For when we put on heavenly bodies, we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it is not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we— so whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. For the believer, our faith in Christ results in a state of grace. We are forgiven for all of our sins and are given the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our eternal life in God's kingdom the moment we make Jesus our Lord and Savior. The judgment the believer faces from Christ is to determine their rewards for their faithfulness. There is nothing to fear from death. To be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. This life on earth is not the end. Jesus said in John 11:25-26, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Jesus speaks the truth of spiritual reality. You can believe this. And if you haven't already, you should say a prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and then endeavor to be his disciple and follow him in how you live your life. The strength of our faith comes from God. It comes from knowing him and from knowing the truth of— that he reveals to us in his word, and from applying its wisdom to every situation of our lives, especially in times of pain and loss. So yeah, bad things will happen, suffering will come, and death will take the lives of our family, friends, and pets. But God is on the other side of this life, and if there is one thing you can be sure of, it is this: God will do what is right. I don't know if all dogs go to heaven, but I know that God will do what is right. As for men, God's justice is served by Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life, and he said that no one comes to the Father except through him. This is the truth, and God will do what's right based on this. We all need the assurance of a good ending, and the Lord offers it freely to all who put their faith in his son. No matter what losses we face in life, we can be assured God is good because he sent Jesus to tell us the truth and to rescue us from sin and death. Death loses its sting through Jesus Christ alone. So thank God it's Friday, and thank God for all the love we have known in our lives, whether it is active and current or came from those who are no longer with us. We can rejoice even in our pain, knowing that we gave and received love from our dearly departed loved ones. So no matter what you are facing as we go into this weekend, draw close to the Lord and he will draw close to you. He will tell you the truth and give you strength and comfort when you walk with him. He will never leave you or forsake you, and he will be there when your body gives out and he calls you home. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Proverbs 2:9, and it says, "Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go." Today's Bible verse reminds us of the results of seeking God's wisdom, that we will have understanding of what is right, just, and fair, and we will find the right way to go. In any sincere search for the truth about the meaning of life, The Bible and the person of Jesus Christ must be considered. To say we care about truth, wisdom, and what happens to us when we die, and to dismiss or ignore the Bible and Jesus, is not only foolish, but should reveal the fact that we are willfully choosing to reject the truth that has changed the course of human history. Look at the calendar and tell me, uh, tell me what year it is, and tell me why it is that year. And don't tell me about Common Era, that's a modern invention to deny the truth of who Christ is. AD is an abbreviation of the Latin Anno Domini, literally the year of the Lord, and it just so happens to coincide with the advent of Jesus Christ into this world. When you tell me the year is 2022, you unwittingly give glory to Jesus Christ. So, if you were curious about the man whose life was so significant that we number our days based on him, or if you were to consider the vast multitudes who would point you to the Word of God to find wisdom, you would read the Bible. The Bible tells the story of God and his plan for mankind, which is Jesus Christ. It also reveals what is right morally according to the Lord. So as today's verse indicates, when we seek the Lord's wisdom that is revealed to us in Scripture, we will understand what is right, just, and fair, and we will also find the right way to go. The last parts of the Bible, the New Testament, reveals Jesus as the way. Putting our faith in Him and living according to God's wisdom is the way to go. So, seek the truth and you will find it. Your investigation for truth may not begin with God, but as you see the common revelation of creation that testifies to the existence of a Creator, and consider the historical evidence that points to the significance of the Bible as a source of wisdom, your investigation for truth will lead you to the Author of all truth and Maker of all things, God, and His Word, the Holy Bible, will show you what is just, right, and fair, and will show you the right way to go. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, concluding chapter 7 of his book with, with the, um, the headings today is Consumed with Clothes and Where Are the Young Radicals for Christ. And that's a great question— where are the young radicals for Christ? And, uh, it ends with his My Heart's Plea. So if you want to know what John Piper's heart's plea is, probably to have young radicals for Christ— just guessing— um, who are not consumed with clothes. You can check out exactly what the— what his book says by going to mtforchrist.org and checking at the bottom of today's blog post to read that excerpt. And as always, we encourage you to buy John Piper's book instead of reading it little by little. But if you just have time for a little bit of his book, you know, we provide, uh, we provide this excerpt daily until we'll get through through the entire, entire work. But we always, we always point, you know, if you want wisdom, go seek it, right? So if you want John Piper's book, go buy it. Um, and from what I can see, not for nothing, but there's free versions of it on, on, uh, in PDF form on the internet. And, um, but if you wanted to be honest, um, there are, um, copies of that book, I believe, for less than $5 on many websites. So, you know, just to give a heads up on that. Um, yeah, life is hard, but God, you know, God, God, God made the world and Jesus Christ overcame the world. And there's great hope to have even in the midst of suffering and pain and loss when we know the truth of what the word says, that this life isn't over when we die, that it goes on. And to be safe and secure, we have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we say the truth in love. Otherwise, you know, if you don't have Christ in your life, the best you can do is guess. I guess, or just, you know, you're going to believe that nothing happens. But there's great hope in the many testimonies about what Christ has done in people's lives. And, uh, you know, there's lots of evidence, uh, and that— investigate it for yourself and seek the truth and you'll find it. And so I'm not here to dogmatically tell you to believe certain things. Um, I wouldn't accept it, so why should you? Um, basically, uh, yeah, when I came to faith in Christ, it was through a prayer. And then after that, I said, wait a minute now, I came to Jesus, I made him my Lord and Savior because, wow, I'm a bad person and I really I need to be forgiven of my sins, but is this for real? And so thus began the journey, um, you know, and, and I discovered it was for real. The Holy Spirit in me led me to study the word of God, and I got the, the good truth and I got the bad truth, you know, that, uh, not only was I, uh, saved, if I was, um, I was a saint, I was a holy one, I was someone who is supposed to live like a Christian too. So, you know, to be reconciled to God and to have a harmonious relationship with him, I began to follow the Lord and surrender my life to follow his will. And it's only led to good things. When you walk in the Spirit, you get the fruit of the Spirit. That includes peace, joy, and love, and patience. And or as one translation calls patience, long-suffering, um, and, uh, self-control. Um, all these things grew in my life. Um, working on gentleness and goodness and faithfulness, uh, all the time, uh, as I walk through this life. But, um, you know, I, I might— I feel my, uh, you know, I really feel pain for my friends today. And I was reminded, I wish I'd written this in the blog, so this is, you know, an exclusive to the podcast. But the movie Conan the Barbarian— Conan, you know, this is not biblical— Conan loses the love of his life, this woman warrior, I forget her name, but she gets killed basically. And Conan, being Conan, doesn't cry, he just gets angry. But his companion in the movie is an archer, and he he cries and somebody says to him, like, "Why are you crying?" And he's like, "I'm crying because he won't cry." So his friend was showing, you know, expressing the pain that Conan must have been feeling but, you know, wouldn't bring himself to express. And that's the way I feel for my friends today. My friend's story about his dog was just unbelievable and heartwarming and, you know, very sad. That his canine friend was lost. My other friend who I've walked with in faith circles for a short time, you know, confessed to me, you know, his— the pain he was going through as various things were happening to his family with his parents and with his wife's parents, and now both matriarchs are lost. And, you know, my heart goes out. And I literally cried tears this morning, you know, just a little bit, for their pain. You know, so when you really, you know, when you draw close to people in their relationships, you know, like Bill Clinton said, you really do feel their pain. I don't know if Bill Clinton did. It's a nice political expression, but the faith, you know, the fact of our drawing close to the Lord softens our hearts, turns our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. And, you know, we don't just go it alone on the path of Christian discipleship. We are usually, and supposed to be, in a community of believers, and that means we get in there and we express our love for one another. And, you know, we're affected by people and what happens, and we can really, really grow. And that's how we grow too, by the way. You know, the Lord changes us emotionally as well as intellectually and spiritually. That's what happens on this path when we decide to follow God. Seek the truth and you will find it. You will find that, wow, there really is a God, and what Well, this person called Jesus was His Son, and God, you know, God the Son too. And there's a Holy Spirit. As all this, you know, these paradoxes come together that seem contradictory but are actually true. And like I said, don't take my word for it. Seek the Lord, seek His truth by reading His Word and following Him with your life. So that's my encouragement for today. If you need more encouragement, I offer, uh, you know, the podcast— on the podcast and our YouTube channel, we have the teachings I've done previously where I talk all the more about our freedom in Christ and who we are in Christ. And my lessons for Victory of the Darkness, Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ, obviously those are all based on the Word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson. We give credit where credits due. He compiled them all. You know, I figured out a lot of this stuff too on my own, but you know, when you, when you walk in faith, you know, when you're out there, you figure things out and you come up with stuff, and then you read a book and you realize somebody else came up with it a lot sooner than you did. And that's, that was the case for, um, the stuff with Dr. Neil Anderson's teachings, and that's why I really, you know, connected to it and got connected with Freedom in Christ.. And I've realized today, you know, recently that Christian counselor Jay Adams draws some things out, and I'm like, yeah, I know that because I lived it, not because I wrote about it. But he talks about the upward spiraling or downward spiraling of sinful behavior and the upward spiraling of good behavior. Well, I call that the vicious cycle and the virtuous cycle. Before I read Adams' work. I got dates and times on that, but I can't really prove that I didn't read Adams' work before. But because how does this happen, that two people who follow the Lord read his word and get truth, and, you know, we reflect the same truth? You know, I said it in different terms than Anderson or Adams would have come up with, but, you know, I came to the same conclusions. You know why? Because we studied the same the same, the same truth, um, God's truth. All truth is God's truth. So anything true in the world that is actually true, um, would reflect on what God has revealed to us. And those principles, believe me, are going to be in the word of God as well. So I encourage you to study the word. Obviously it's very important. That's where the truth lies. And that's why we share our Bible study on the podcast as well, where we study once a week as a topical discussion with Arthur and Suzanne Sincotti. So if you want to check those out, they're on the podcast and the YouTube channel as well. Um, so that's it for today. Well, I want to thank the Lord. It's Friday, you know. After we go through suffering, we can look back, you know, it stinks, but we can look, we can look back and say, at least I'm not suffering anymore. I'm out of the darkness of that time in my life, that season. So we can rejoice in it. You know, it's comparative joy, comparative peace. We don't always— we can remember the pain, but the way we get past the pain is to say goodbye to the relationships we had and remember that those relationships aren't necessarily over, that we can remember people and that we can possibly see them on the other side. And we can remember the relationship we have with God our Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that simply never ends and that is always with us and that we can always lean on to bring us to, you know, peace. Even in the midst of turmoil and strife and when people accuse us of things that aren't true, we can go to the Father and get peace. So Uh, there we go with that heart again. Uh, anyway, let's pray for my good friends out there, suffering or not. Uh, you know, we need God every day no matter what we're going through. So let's do this. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you, it's Friday. Thank you for the end of the work week. Thank you for the jobs we have that support our families and give us the things we need. Um, Lord, we thank you for the things we need the most, which is the truth of your word and the truth of your presence and the truth of your love for us, Lord. Let us know it and experience it every day of our lives as we go forward. Lord, we pray for the people listening today, that they would be built up in the most holy faith by knowing you and by seeking your truth and by reaching out to you in prayer, Lord. And, and to take their— what's going on in their life and to put it through the perspective of your word and the truth of who they are and Christ, and, and how things pass away but your word and your truth and your love endure forever. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for them to be built up in the Holy Spirit and, um, to, to experience the freedom, the peace, and the healing that can come when, when people walk with you, um, Lord. So we pray for you to bless them, uh, give them what they need. Uh, we pray for you to bless us all today as we go forward to open our eyes, show us the truth and the beauty that's out there, even in the midst of our pain and struggles, that we can enjoy. And Lord, we pray for you to go before us, because we know as you are in control of all things and nothing happens, uh, that you don't know about, and that you can be there for us as we go. So please go before us, make this Friday a good one, or help us to endure if it isn't a good one. To give us peace. Um, just go with us, Lord. Please go before us and help us and guide us as we go to represent you the best way we can, uh, on the earth. And, uh, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.