How can we find comfort during the loss of a family member or friend?
1. Ask the Lord to be your comforter in times of grief. Paul writes, "Who comforts us in all our sorrow so that we can offer others, in their sorrows, the consolation that we have received from God ourselves." (2 Cor. 1 :4)
2. Follow the example of David who found comfort in the darkest of times. David wrote, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. (Psa 23 :4)
3. Remember Jesus is our greatest advocate during times of transition. The writer of Hebrews wrote, "He shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is the devil. And free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Heb. 2: 14,15)
4. Remind people of Christ's most famous promise. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life." (Jn. 3: 16) Christians never die they just leave a legacy. Consider the great atoning work done on our behalf by Jesus. Paul wrote, "Christ abolished death and He has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News." (2 Tim. 1:10) Christians just pass into eternity as they sleep in death.
5. Review the great promise of assurance of salvation given by Jesus. The Lord Jesus said, "I give them eternal life and they shall never die; and no one can snatch them away from me." (Jn. 10:28) No one can take away our assurance of salvation.
6. Remove any pain through the assurance given by the apostle Paul. Paul writes, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" (I Cor. 15:55)
7. Consider all the benefits of those who are made right through their faith in Christ. Paul writes, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...much more then, being justified by His blood, we will be saved from wrath through Him." (Rom. 5: 1,9)
8. Thank God for the eternal freedoms that will be experienced by those who trust Christ as their Savior. The writer of Hebrews promised, "Through His death He destroyed the devil and the power of death. And deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb. 2:14,15)
9. Rest in the assurance of the promise given by David, who knew how to deal with grief of loved ones. David wrote, "For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. (Psa. 48:14)
10. Draw inspiration from the promise that even if you do not have physical or emotional strength, the Lord will be your sufficiency. David wrote, "My flesh and my heart may fail: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." (Psa. 73:26)
11. Ask the Lord to bring people of great faith to comfort you during times of grief. David wrote, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." (Psa. 37:37)
12. Be thankful that our physical body is only a temporary house for the eternal soul that will live forever with the Lord. Paul wrote, "But though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16)
13. Review the powerful, comforting and reassuring promises of God's overcoming love in Romans chapter 8. Paul wrote, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38,39)
