I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 19th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Matthew 22:32:

“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 

Those who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour will never die. Isn’t that good news? For He is the God of the living. He is not the God of the dead, but the living. We, you and I, we do not worship a statue made out of stone or wood or precious jewels. No, no - Jesus is very much alive! Now when Mary Madeline ran down to the tomb early in the morning, to go and dress the body of Jesus with herbs and spices, she entered the tomb and there was an angel standing there, and the angel said to them, in the Gospel of Mark 16:6:

“He is risen! He is not here.”

He is the God of the living, a living God! Now maybe this morning, you are feeling a little bit sad. Maybe you have lost a loved one, not so long ago, or maybe years ago. Those who have gone before us, if they are believers, they are not dead. They are very much alive and today, they are living in Heaven with Jesus, and they are waiting patiently for you and me to come home, to be in glory forever. Now, what I want to suggest to you is this - if that loved one could say one thing, this is what they would say, “Angus, please tell them - tell my mother, tell my father, tell my child not to worry, I am well but I desire to see them in Heaven one day. Please encourage them to live a life of faith and love in Christ and we will be reunited again.”

Father,

I want to pray for my friends this morning. Lord, it is a very painful thing when you lose a loved one, whether it is a little four year old boy, whether it is an old granny. We miss them, Lord, we really do. I pray that You will give my friends courage, You will comfort them, You will give them spiritual eyes to understand that their loved one is not dead and that they will be reunited because Jesus said so. I ask this in Your precious name, 

Amen.

God bless you and goodbye.