Goodbye for Now

Goodbye for Now

Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

You do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope (V.13).

My friend Priya and I have a ‘routine’ we go through when we say goodbye. We wrap our arms around each other and begin to loudly wail with dramatic sobs for about twenty seconds. Then we step back and casually say, “See ya,” and turn away. It’s a bit of a joke—we always expect
that we will see each other again soon.

But sometimes saying goodbye to people we care about can be very difficult. When Paul said goodbye to the church leaders at Ephesus, “They all wept as they embraced him . . . What grieved them most was [Paul’s] statement that they would never see his face again” (ACTS 20:37-38).

Of course, the hardest goodbye comes when we are parted from someone by death. We cry. We feel empty. How can we go through life knowing that we will never see that person again? Still . . . we do not grieve like those who have no hope. Paul writes of a future reunion for those who “believe that Jesus died and rose again” (1 THESS. 4:13-18). He says: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel” (V.16), and those who have died, along with those who are still alive, will be united with Jesus. What a reunion! And—best of all—we will be with Jesus forever. That’s the great answer to all our goodbyes.

HEAVEN WILL BE THE BEST REUNION EVER.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries