“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” (Romans 12:15)
As you read that verse, contemplate what it means, what it means to be sorrowful with someone who is grieving, to become emotionally as they are, to truly feel their pain, become in essence as they are. Honest care, compassion and concern for those who have experienced the inner result of personal loss, grief.
Now, consider this verse well and ask yourself this question, can I honestly grieve with them?
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” (1st Thess. 4:13)
The death of a loved one, whether it be human or, in a way, a pet, to those who have been born-again is nothing more than a temporary separation, a span of time so short in relation to eternity that it’s barely worth our time, for us who are hid in Christ the emotional pain, that grief, is no less real yet it is tempered by hope, promises given by Him who is faithful.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
With those who have experienced the loss of one dear to them, those who have no hope, that one who has never placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who died in their sins, we can do nothing more than attempt to console them, perhaps cautiously and with love lead them to the knowledge of Him who died for them in the hope that they will not remain on that wide path.
We can grieve with them, but we cannot grieve like them.
We have been blessed with a true and honest hope, their hope, hope that person was good enough is a false hope.
“Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28)
It is of little use to grieve for the dead who died in their sins, all hope is gone for them, and we know without a doubt that grieving the loss of our brothers and sisters in Christ is only temporary, it is our loss, not their gain, that consumes us for a short time, and the knowledge that we will meet again that consoles us.
To grieve with someone when we do not grieve as they do is a subject well worth your contemplation my friends and can only be considered when in the presence of those who have no eternal hope. We do not grieve as the wicked do, yet we are to grieve with them.
Fake empathy? No more real than one hired to mourn, called to give false assurances, to tell them that everything will be alright? No, for in a way we understand their pain fully, each of us has known one close to us who has died in their sins, we all have, or will have, friends, family members and close acquaintances who now reside in hell.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Heb. 9:27)
But that one still here, the one who has no hope, who does not believe in the promises, for them there is hope, and as we grieve with them but not like them, we can tell them of the only One who can remove that grief. Who can give them that same unquestionable assurance that those who are His will meet again those who have gone on before us and will never again be separated from each other.
This is not the time to tell them where the one they cared for, that one who died in their sins now is at, but it is the time to tell them where they could go.
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
We cannot grieve like them, but we can grieve with them, and in doing so, reveal to them the assurance of the hope we know.
