Read: Romans 14:7-9

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. (v. 8)

When trying to comfort the grieving, it can be all too easy to resort to platitudes. Ask any bereaved person what kinds of comments they found more hurtful than helpful after their loved one died. Although people are trying to be supportive, their rather trite phrases like “She’s in a better place” or “God needed him more than we did” don’t always have the intended effect. Even when we do believe, for instance, that a person has been mercifully freed of bodily pain through the release of death, comments like these oversimplify the situation and can leave grievers to feel like they “shouldn’t” be sad.

This verse from Romans risks sounding like a platitude, as though death isn’t that big of a deal. But its truth runs far deeper, and its intent is to grant comfort. It doesn’t mean that death doesn’t matter, but that death does not have the power to take us out of Christ’s hold on us. As the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us, our only comfort both in life and in death is that we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. This doesn’t trivialize death, but instead it extols the power of Christ, who died and lives again. Neither his death, nor ours, can take us outside the realm of God’s care. With both anguish and hope, we can entrust our loved ones into God’s hands.

Prayer:

We belong to you in life and in death; grant us courage and comfort.

Jessica Bratt Carle

https://woh.org/