The Role of Scripture in the Grieving Process

At Wyatt Baptist Church a couple weeks ago Clif Johnson talked about how we can use Scripture in times like these.
Here is what he said:

"In the book Pilgrim's Progress, Christian is on his way to the celestial city and he encounters an evil monster named Apollyon. They begin to fight a ferocious battle. During the fight Apollyon lays a blow so forceful on Christian that it knocks Christian's sword (the word of God) out of his hand and out of reach, and puts Christian on his back. Apollyon walks over to Christian, stands over him and mutters, "I am sure of thee now," meaning, without your sword the victory is easily mine. Without scripture to fight with, we will be defeated in our thoughts, and then our actions. There will not be a time where we walk away from a sermon and say, "That did it for me. I won't have any more doubts, any more questions, any more battles." We will fight every day of our lives to plant the right thoughts and take captive the evil ones. And what we must remind ourselves is that scripture is ultimate reality and truth. Our emotions are not ultimate truth, and they do not need to inform our idea of truth. We must let scripture, ultimate truth, inform our emotions."

This is excellent counsel from a very wise man. The role of the Word in the fight of faith is crucial. Without a strong grounding in that reality, you will be tossed about by emotions, the culture, your sinful desires, your confused-ness about reality, and will be easily led astray by human wisdom and philosophies. I am not telling you not to listen to the world, just get a grip on ultimate reality before you go looking for answers in the world. We all must trust in something before we make any decisions about what is true and what is not. The Bible is trustworthy and will not lead you astray.

God, Don’t give me peace…

This has been a weird week as I have settled back into my job and home life. It is difficult to carry on the routines of normal life when it feels like a big part of my life has been stripped away and my thoughts are constantly with Scott and Bryce. However, this is the way it has to be. Diapers must be changed, meals must be cooked, and paychecks must be earned. However, as I operate my life with a knife stuck in my heart in many ways I am thankful for the blade. My wound keeps sending me to Christ. I don’t want things to get back to the way they were. I want to love my wife and kids more than ever. I want to watch TV less and seek God more. I want to serve my wonderful church more faithfully. Most of all I want more of Christ. I do not want time to heal this wound. Nor do I want to dull the ache with the TV or Internet. I don’t even want to find refuge by just busying myself with family time. I want my refuge to be in Christ and Christ alone. If he does not give me peace, then I don’t want peace.