Joyful Grief: Thoughts on Losing My Grandpa

This past week we made the ten hour drive to Lake Charles, LA for my grandpa's funeral. He is a Christian, and he made his calling and election clear by his life of faithful service to the Savior. Here a few thoughts about death and my grandpa.

1. We live in a fallen world. It sounds obvious, but unless we realize that fact we will be surprised by the trials and difficulties we face. Or, on the other hand, we will assume death is normal. It is an event that happens all around us, but it is not normal. It is a part of life in a fallen, sin-cursed world, but it is not how it was originally made nor is it how it will one day be. Death is an enemy.
2. The sting of death has been removed by Jesus Christ. In Jesus perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection, death has been swallowed up in victory for those who are in Him. There is no second death, eternal death, for those in Christ. Only those who are in Jesus, by faith in his work on their behalf, have such hope. Only those who have been born again will not face death twice. My grandpa was a godly man, but what secured his eternal destiny, and in fact made him a godly man, was that he recognized he was a sinner and trusted in Jesus. I am thankful for his legacy of faith in Jesus Christ. I pray God will give me grace to finish the race well too.
3. My grandpa is with the Lord at this moment.  He trusted in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of his sins and the hope of eternal life. Now he sees that this hope was not in vain. He is absent from the body but present with the Lord. I am so happy for him even as I am sad to not have him here pretending to give me "wet-willies" (they were always dry-willies) and speaking with a Cajun accent.
4. Even though he is with the Lord, he awaits his glorified body. As wonderful as this intermediary state is for him, there is still a grand finale coming when the Lord will raise up our bodies. We will not live as disembodied spirits forever. We will be physically raised, and our resurrected bodies will not be subject to the decay and cancer that ravaged my grandpa.
5. To paraphrase Paul Tripp, "Christians should be the saddest and most joyful people on earth." We are the saddest because we not only experience the pain and destruction of living in a broken world but because we know how glorious it was originally made. The naturalist just assumes this "normal." We know it is not. Even though we have deep sorrow, we are also the most joyful people on earth because we know the Redeemer. We know the One who has come to remove sin and reverse the curse. We have a hope that cannot be shaken. Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. Therefore, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. 

That is the nature of my grief. A sad, hope-filled, joyful grief.