The Empty Chair

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 “Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life]. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again [as in fact He did], even so God [in this same way–by raising them from the dead] will bring with Him those [believers] who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” ~AMP

A woman was asked to describe the process of Chemotherapy. She responded by saying that it reminded her of an ‘empty chair’. After being asked to elaborate on that view she said, “You go into a room with other people that are going through the same process as you are. Throughout the process, we talk and get to know each other. Eventually we all get to be close like a family sharing our stories through our endurance. Then one day you come to the room and notice an empty chair. That chair where a friend of mine once sat.”

When we lose our loved ones or close friends it hurts. That hurt is hard to live with. There are those of us who will tell you that you never get over seeing that ‘empty chair’. But there is something we can do and there is something we must know. First we must take everything we have learned from our lost loved one. All that they were in affecting the good in others. We must allow that characteristic in that person to flow from us so that it may seed the same goodness in others as it did in us.

Second, we must remember who we are. We are believers in the One True King. We are children of God. He loves and takes care of us. Through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, death has been defeated. Believing in the power of the cross allows us to know that God will one day raise, "...all who have fallen asleep in Jesus…” The power of everlasting life will surpass all pain where death tries to bring sorrow. When you find yourself falling spiritually in grief, remember, Jesus has conquered the world, and He has conquered death.

May God bless and keep you strong, healed and protected in Jesus name.

Amen

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