"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps.  116:15).

Denise Sproul, the wife of R.C. Sproul, Jr., went to be with the Lord this morning. Please be praying for her family and her friends in their time of grief.

But as the apostle Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). The grief and sadness is all on this side of that divide, and most certainly not on the other side.

Christians certainly grieve, but it is the kind of grief you see in airports, when someone you love is going to be separated from you . . . but only for a time. This is in stark contrast to what the apostle Paul describes as being "without God and without hope in the world" (Eph. 2:12). The phrase "without God" is rendered from just one word -- atheoi. Godlessness is hopelessness.

So pray for the Sprouls, and thank God for the resurrection of the dead. It is no more unbelievable that we shall live again than that we were given the gift of life the first time. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Networking websites