When a loved one dies we are overcome by grief and afflicted by how awful it is, and it is terribly difficult to deal with. However, there is something more awful than that. Imagine never loving anyone enough to weep over them when they are gone. To be so cold, calloused, indifferent, and detached that we can’t weep over their demise is a horrible thought.

What a miserable life it would be to never love anyone enough to weep when they cry and grieve when they die. As someone said, “Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all”. Love hurts– it’s that plain and simple. Pain is the price we pay for caring, but it is not so high as the price we pay for not loving at all. Pity the person who knows not the joy of loving and being loved.

So, rather than getting angry about the agony of losing a loved one, let us be thankful that we have had the privilege and pleasure of loving another. To be able to love others is a gift that God alone can give. We love Him because He first loved us and loving Him leads to loving others. Losing them is painful, but it is far better than never having loved them at all.

No you won’t get over their loss overnight— you’re not suppose to! God has given us the ability to remember for a reason. He could blot out your recollection of a person the moment they die— your memory of them could die with them, but God didn’t make us that way. He knows the pleasure of your memories out-weighs the pain of your misery, so He enables you to bask in the sunshine of your precious memories. They give you reason to rejoice.

Besides, in the case of a Christian, you haven’t really “lost” your loved one. Death is merely a temporary separation. God’s people never meet for the last time! There is a glorious reunion day coming when all of God’s children will be gathered home– never to part again. Until then let us be cheered by God’s “exceeding great and precious promises”( 2Pet. 1:4). The best is yet to come. Weep not because you grieve, rejoice because you can. Think about it!

Note: This article is dedicated to the memory of Samuel Keen, a man who loved his country and community enough to risk his life to serve both.– Bro. Stone

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Prov. 14:12

Due to their sin God sent fiery serpents into the camp of ancient Israel. Then He instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole, and set it in the midst of the camp. Then He healed all who obeyed and looked upon it. There was no other cure.

Donald Grey Barnhouse, the late well-known pastor and radio preacher, illustrated how the human heart responds to “fiery serpents”:

In the religious fashion of our day, there would have been a rush to incorporate the “Society for the Extermination of the  Fiery Serpents.” There would have been badges for coat lapels, cards for district workers, secretaries for organization branches, pledge cards, and mass rallies. There would have been a publication office and a weekly journal to tell of the progress of the work. There would have been photographs of heaps of serpents that had been killed by the faithful workers, all of them feverishly trying, by human effort, to overcome the serpent’s bite of sin!

This Old Testament event, found in Numbers 21, is really a wonderful picture of what Christ would do thousands of years later on the cross. He would hang in our place as a sinner so that all who looked upon Him might be saved.

In John 14:6, Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” There is no other way to God but to look upon the crucified Savior and believe.

People today are surrounded with all the trappings of religion: they join churches, sign pledge cards, go through Bible lessons and catechisms, give money, get baptized, and in the end, still die without the cure for sin. The truth is, we all have been bitten by sin and its poison is steadily and continually rushing through our veins—we are terminally infected with the venom of sin’s curse.

Our only hope is to look to that wooden cross upon which the Lamb of God was held up for all to see.  Look there! . . . God has provided your cure.- – –

Though you already may have  accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, it is very easy to take your eyes off Him. As Paul said, we must “fix our eyes on Jesus,” and that should be your prayer today. Don’t let yourself forget the awesome work Christ did for you at the cross; practice thanking Him for it . . . start today! (Wisdom for the Heart)

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot speak; for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, l am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. (Jeremiah 1:6-7)

We often tell young people that they ought to serve God, but then we give them no direction or duty. We ought to do better than that! Most of them already feel overwhelmed because they are lacking in knowledge, ability, experience, and opportunity. The last thing they need is someone putting them on a guilt trip and not offering help. If you are a young person struggling with these things, please understand you are not the first. Jeremiah had the same problem, yet God used him.

Spurgeon said, “Jeremiah was young and felt a natural shrinking when sent upon a great errand by the Lord; but He who sent him would not have him say, “I am a child.” What he was in himself must not be mentioned but lost in the consideration that he was chosen to speak for God. He had not to think out and invent a message nor to choose an audience: he was to speak what God commanded and speak where God sent him, and this he would be enabled to do in strength not his own. Is it not so with some young preacher or teacher who may read these lines? God knows how young you are and how slender are your knowledge and experience; but if He chooses to send you, it is not for you to shrink from the heavenly call. God will magnify Himself in our feebleness. If you were as old as Methuselah, how much would your years help you? If you were as wise as Solomon, you might be equally as willful as he. Keep you to your message, and it will be your wisdom; follow your marching orders, and they will be your discretion.“

Dear young person, although you lack experience, are limited in knowledge, have no official title or office, are not eloquent in speech, cannot work miracles, and are fearful and trembling, you can speak! Forget what you can’t do and focus on what you can do. You can speak—speak up for Jesus. Tell others what He did for you and you will be amazed at how God will use you. If you are willing God will make you able.