Are You Glad He’s Gone?

“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am goingto the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.

I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave” (John 14:28-3).

If we really grasped the truth of Christian faith, we would always be glad when those whom we love go to be with God. That is not to say that we would not feel the sting of sorrow and the sharpness of loss. But even in our sorrow and our loneliness we would be glad that after the troubles and trials of earth those whom we loved have gone to something better. We would never begrudge them their rest but would remember that they had entered, not into death but into blessedness. (Quoted from William Barclay). 

The above Bible passage and Barclay’s commentary are very meaningful to me, having lost my wife of 50 years, Pam, not even half a year ago. The sting of sorrow is indeed big and the sharpness of loss indeed sharp. BUT: This is not the end; it is the beginning of a much better life.

Pam wanted this text on her death announcement:

“In my Father's houseare many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2).

Certainly, a much better place than our apartment in Benglen which we loved.