Will We See Our Departed Loved Ones Again?

My memories of her are few but vivid. She died when I was seven. I don’t know if I would recognize her voice.

Today I looked for a book in our bookcase. I couldn’t find it. It was probably discarded years ago. I recall that my mother read Bible stories to my brothers and me from that book.

I remember one day she and I visited a local market and another when she was cleaning one of the bedrooms in our house. The scenes are like photographs in my mind.

On the lighter side, I remember her telling us one day she would call the police if we continued to misbehave! That’s why I spent a year in the county prison! Not really, of course.

On the more serious side, will I see her again? Will we see our departed loved ones again? It depends on both them and us. It isn’t whether they want to see us or not or whether we want to see them. It depends on whether both they and we are believers in Jesus Christ. If we are, we have God’s promise that we will see them again.

“And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 MSG).

We will see our departed friends, relatives, and associates again if they and we are in Christ. But our relationships won’t take up where they left off during our earthly lives. We will all be like Jesus (1 John 3:2).

We can’t imagine the difference that will make. Like a brain tumor completely removed, our desire to live independently of God and all the fallout associated with it will be gone forever. No more foolish arguments. No more maddening personality quirks. No more broken promises. No more letting one another down. We will be transformed people.

We will be far more transformed than the wrestler I read about recently. His story began with an undefeated high school wrestling career. He was a four-time Pennsylvania state wrestling champion. He was the top wrestling recruit in the United States when he graduated. I saw him wrestle at the district championships during his senior year of high school. He was head and shoulders above his competition.

Then, about a year later, his life took a tragic turn into an addiction to oxy, fentanyl, and heroin. He was fortunate they didn’t kill him. Finally, he decided to turn his life around. He escaped the clutches of drugs and decided to be the best wrestler he could be.

Chance Marsteller earned a berth on the USA World wrestling team in June 2023. He defeated Jordan Burroughs, a six-time world champion and an Olympic Champion, to do so.

One day, we will be far more transformed than Chance Marsteller. I hope not, but he could return to the siren call of those drugs. When we become like Jesus, our addiction to sin and self will vanish in the blinking of an eye. It will never return.

Will we see our departed loved ones again? Yes, but our relationships with believing loved ones will ascend to an unimaginably higher plane than we had with them on Earth. #freechristiandiscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources

See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com

God has equipped and empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free devotional discipleship resource. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 1,933 people to date. I invite you to check it out. https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/his-power-for-your-weakness

Photo: Download Victoria God Royalty-Free Stock Illustration Image - Pixabay