13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.ReflectionsWritten by Sam DarmoTwo weeks into my first year at Moore College, my beloved mother fell asleep. And just after we laid her body to rest at the cemetery everyone left, but I could not leave her there, my feet became planted in the ground as metal rods in concrete and I wept aloud and alone. Even though we are saved Christians declared righteous by God our Father through the finished work of His Son Jesus according to the testimony of His Holy Spirit, the sense of grief for the loss of someone dear to us, like a mother, can still bring upon us a tremendous sense of grief and sadness that is real. But here Paul reminds us that we don’t grieve like those who have no faith in Christ. We grieve for the temporary separation with the sure hope of the resurrection in Christ who is risen and who has conquered death. We know that when Jesus comes back, He will bring with himself those who slept in faith in Him.This type of grieving is an awesome tool for evangelism and a witness to God’s power over death in these times when the world is in fear from a virus. May we all continue to witness to others about this sure hope of the resurrection even when we are grieving.About the AuthorSam is an Assistant Minister at St Barnabas and is passionate about sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus with Assyrian and Arabic speakers in Fairfield.