Saddest thing in the whole wide world

Yesterday I attended a funeral for my wife’s best friend’s mother. She had been a devout Christian all of her life. She had three children and several grandchildren who loved her as well as many friends. I have not attended a funeral in quite some time and I was reminded of how different people react to death.

This lady had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for some time and had experienced a series of strokes with many other complications including broken ribs suffered in a fall. She was old, feeble, her memory was gone, and bless her heart she had been suffering from some very serious pain for an extended period of time leading up to her death. As I sat there I could envision her now with her youth and health restored, vibrant and beautiful walking in the lovely radiant gardens of heaven along the crystal clear river of life enjoying the peace and joy of heaven and being in the holy presence of our Lord who was showing her marvelous things.

As I watched small groups of people going up to morbidly stare at her lifeless shell in the casket and then returning to their seats sobbing and crying as if there were no tomorrow, I could not help but think that something is wrong with the way some folks view the death of a Christian. We should look at it as God looks at it, as the beginning and not the end. We should celebrate with her and not boo hoo and wail.

I do not think there is anything wrong with grieving the loss of a loved one for oneself, as you will miss being around them. I believe it should be done in the context of being analogous to someone whom we love going away on a trip in which we cannot join them or even talk to them for a time. We will be deprived for a while from enjoying being in their company, (maybe even years), and we will deeply miss them while they are gone and until we can get together again, but keeping in mind that day will surely come.

I do not think we should spend any time mourning for the poor Christian who died in the context of what “they” will miss out on in this world. Think about it; even someone tragically cut down in their youth such as a small child who goes to heaven will be so much better off in heaven in the presence of Jesus Christ where there will be never be any tears, than they will in this world of sin, sorrow, sickness, suffering, and pain.

Now attending the funeral of someone who is not a Christian is another matter. None of us can know someone’s heart, but the Bible tells us that “you shall know them by their fruits” and we often have a pretty good idea. Often we have a fairly solid indication that someone has not accepted Jesus Christ because they openly state that they do not believe in Him. To me the saddest thing in this whole wide world is to see someone like that die in their sins, without the saving grace that is free for the asking from Jesus Christ our Savior. There should be real grief when this happens.

If you have a family member, friends, or even an acquaintance who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, think about witnessing to them. The only thing sadder than attending a non-Christian’s funeral is attending one and sitting there staring at their lifeless corpse and shuddering at the thought of them being in absolute darkness, completely alone, damned to an eternity of suffering and banned forever from the presence of God thinking that you just might could have made a difference, had you only been willing to spend some time with them explaining God’s eternal plan of salvation


Rev. 21:4
And God will wipe away every
tear from their eyes; there shall be
no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for
the former things have passed
away.