When someone we love dies, we often hear, “I know they’re looking down on us,” or we see messages posted to them on Facebook as though they can read them from heaven.
I understand the sentiment. Grief makes us long for one more conversation, one more hug, one more opportunity to say, “I love you.” But our comfort needs to rest in what God has told us, not simply in what makes us feel better.
The Bible does not teach that our loved ones in heaven are watching everything happening here on earth. Their attention is not centered on us. They are in the presence of the Lord.
Wonderful hope
Paul wrote that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). What a wonderful hope that is for those who belong to Christ!
And we need to lovingly remember something else: not everyone goes to heaven simply because they die. Heaven is not earned by being a good person, belonging to a church, or doing good works. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith … not of works, lest anyone should boast.” — Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)
We do good works because we have been saved, not so that we can be saved. We love Him because He first loved us.
I have loved ones who have gone on before me, and I miss them. But I don’t need to believe they are watching over me. Jesus is.
I don’t need them to read my Facebook posts. I can thank God for their lives and cherish the memories He has given me.
And for those who knew Christ, I don’t say goodbye without hope. My hope isn’t that they’re looking down at me. My hope is that they are with Him — and one day, because of Jesus Christ, we will be together again.
That is far better than a sentimental saying.
That is the blessed hope of the gospel.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” — John 14:6 (NKJV)
Our hope is not in death. Our hope is in Jesus Christ.
The world needs King Jesus!
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ken Cummins is general manager of Missionary Radio, a Christian radio station based in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and a retired KBC pastor and former IMB missionary. This was originally published by Kentucky Today and is used here with permission.
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