We are approaching Memorial Day Weekend. Originally, Memorial Day was to honor those who died while serving our country in the military and was called Decoration Day. While those who died in battle are remembered, others observe this day to visit cemeteries and decorate their graves with flowers.

Who are you remembering?

Who are you remembering this Memorial Day? Is there someone among your friends or family who died in serving our country? Do you have family members’ whose graves you decorate?

One thing we know for sure, they are no longer present in our world.

As facilitators for GriefShare, we witness people deep in their grief. At the beginning, they are often unable to even voice what their loved one’s name is. Gradually, as they walk through their pain–and it is pain in grieving–they begin to say farewell to their loved one. Often we will ask, “Who did you lose?” Some will fight that question with a counter answer, “I didn’t lose them, I know where they are!” While it is true in some instances, they do know where they are–if they believe in Jesus, they are in heaven. Some people believe all people go to heaven. Others believe they are just dead without any conscious thought at all. One thing for sure is true: they are no longer present in our world. Definitely they are lost to me in this present life, so asking who they lost is appropriate.

Shakespeare agreed…

Shakespeare agreed there was “sin” or “badness.”

All men are bad and in their badness reign. Sonnet 121.14

The Bible confirms it:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I John 1:8

So what do we do with this knowledge? That we are all “bad” or have “sinned”? We acknowledge we do have sin in our lives. We all really know this. We have bad thoughts. We are selfish. Even little babies are born with this. Think about how they want their way right now. That is sin. Wanting our way on our time schedule. There’s good news, though. There is a place to make things right. It is the gift God gave us through his son, Jesus:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (Romans 3:23-24)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23).

There’s one more portion from the Bible that gives a solution to the sin/badness in our lives:

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.

To those of you who have put your trust in Jesus, you believe he came to earth as a human, yet was God. And at age thirty-three, gave his life for us. He died. They put his broken body in a tomb, and three days later, that tomb was empty because he came back to life. He rose from death! Only God can do that. Man cannot. And because He did die for us– our sins–if we believe, we have eternal life with him.

There’s a solution….

There’s the solution. It’s belief in the Son. That He died for us and if we believe, we will have eternal life. With him. In heaven. The best part of those words above, are these:  He loved, He gave. No other god did that. Buddha is still in his grave. So is Confucius. Muhammad. Lenin.

I usually write to give hope to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one in death. Today, I’m writing to anyone who doesn’t know for sure their eternal destination. That is ultimate hope. Hope in Jesus, the Son of God.

We can believe the words are true…

If and when you visit the place where a loved one is buried, you may or may not know where they are, but you can know where you’ll go when you die. It is my belief that the Bible is God’s message to us and has been preserved for us for centuries now and we can believe the words are true.

If you haven’t thought about where you might go. You hope you’ll go to heaven. Perhaps you hope you’ll get there by your good works. You can have the assurance you are going there by putting your trust in Jesus. What do you have to lose?

You can know for sure….

When you remember this weekend, whether or not you visit a cemetery and decorate their grave, you can know for sure where you will spend eternity. I’ve given you some tools to think about. I hope you will consider. And believe. It’s up to you.

I was told lilies remind us of death. Yet Easter lilies are used as a reminder of life. The resurrection of Jesus.