Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
That you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (v. 13)
After my baby died, I spent months feeling hopeless. This felt especially challenging when I remembered that as a follower of Jesus, I did not have to grieve without hope. Hope was available even in my pain, yet my heart struggled to reconcile Paul’s invitation to grieve with hope when I felt so little of it for my dreams of motherhood. As I wrestled, I felt the Holy Spirit gently showing me that Jesus was fully able to empathize with my grief, as well as provide me with deep hope.
How? When the Suffering Servant became a resurrected Savior, an impossible hope emerged. The resurrection of Jesus serves as a firstfruit of the resurrection promise of life beyond the grave for followers of Jesus. Christian hope is not wishful thinking or choosing optimism in adversity. Christian hope is a deep-seated reality that death does not have the final say, that God brings new life from death, and redemption is all around us. When loved ones die, just as Jesus did, we grieve. But we can grieve while simultaneously holding fast to the promise of heaven—eternal, resurrected life awaits.
While it may be difficult to grasp the implications of the resurrection in your life today, allow this truth to sink in: what looks impossibly broken is primed for resurrection life. God loves bringing beauty out of ashes and bringing hope into the most hopeless of circumstances—even in your grief. —Rachel Lohman
As you pray, ask for the hope of Jesus to take root in whatever feels broken in your life today.
About the Author
Rachel Lohman is the mom of two toddlers and founder of Hope Again Collective. She lives outside of Los Angeles where she helps lead a bilingual church, The Bridge Chino, alongside her husband, Mark.
