Our Sure Hope

  Those who have died in faith will rise to eternal happiness.  It is this hope of the resurrection to which Paul refers throughout his first letter to the Thessalonians.  Christians are not like other people who, when a loved one dies, have no hope of their continued happiness or of ever seeing them again.  We will see each other again in the resurrection. That is our sure hope.
  So we should not grieve as non-believers do when someone dies.  And, in fact, we should not fear death. There is life beyond this one, and it is a better life. In heaven there is no pain, no illness, no sorrow, no mourning. In heaven there is the presence of the complete fullness of God.  That is our sure hope (1 Thess 4:13-14).
  For Reflection:  This hope should make us happy.  This hope should reassure us about our future life and the lives of others who are in Christ.  Do we have this happiness and assurance deep down within us?
  Let us pray.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5:1, 2, 5).

---