Blog #8: My Grandfather
I decided to do some digging in the Bible. I was curious about the theme of saying goodbye to someone in your life. Even though there’s no death occurring in my family, I’m just curious what it was like to say goodbye to Jesus as he ascended. I can picture myself saying “i just got you back and you’re gonna leave me?” There’s an aspect of the Christian life that people I pray Christians would discuss more and that’s saying goodbye to the things in your life that you used to love. For me, that was throwing out 200+ dollars of makeup, throwing away shoes, letting go of the foundation of appearance I built my self-worth on, and now I’m finding more areas and even a person or two that I have to let go of and establish boundaries in-between. I don’t even know how to build boundaries. I’m an open-book kinda guy. I don’t believe in boundaries, but now they some very necessary. I have to remind myself that these goodbyes is a call to action. It’s a call to demonstrate our loyalty and hope we have in Christ.
Every now and then, I think about my grandfather, and the quirky love and gentleness that shined through the little things he did, and I’m excited to see him again. Hopefully, I’ll be running to him so I can tell him I never got a tattoo, because he always told us not to get one. What’s interesting about the passing of my grandfather isn’t how he passed or even how often he told us not to tattoo ourselves, it’s what I realized when he passed. It seems as if the spirit of my grandfathers love and gentleness was passed on to my mother and also onto me. I guarantee you there is an extremely intense theme of loyalty and devotion that has shined in my mom’s life. (I love you mom). In 2 Kings 2, Elisha witnesses his mentor leave, knowing it’s their final moment together. He receives Elijah's mantle, which symbolically shows the passing of prophetic leadership onto Elisha. It’s my mom’s turn to teach me how to be loyal and gentle. I consider myself moderately gentle but definitely loyal. I don’t think my mom has ever considered this idea, but true leadership looks like setting an example and demonstrating Christ in everything we do. I think it’s hard to say goodbye in situations like this because there’s a big change that happens in life. My mom is now the leading living example of loyalty in my life. I know she prayed for me all of the time before I was saved. I also know she still prays for me:). Eternally grateful for those prayers.
If ya’ll know one of the biggest stories of loyalty you know who I’m about to bring up. All of this talk of loyalty reminds me of Ruth. In Ruth 1 we read about when Naomi’s husband and sons die, she decides to return to her homeland in Bethlehem. Her daughter-in-law Ruth faces a goodbye moment, but instead of leaving Naomi, Ruth chooses to stay with her, famously saying, "Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay.” Don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting to dramatically follow someone through death, but I am asking you to follow Christ through death, when your time comes, because He will raise you from the dead. It’s actually pretty exciting to think about. I’m genuinely curious what waking up from death will be like.
Speaking of resurrected bodies, Jesus explained that He would prepare a place for them and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort them. Even after death Jesus is showing His care for the disciples and also instilling hope and devotion to Him, because they know they have much to look forward to. There are so many goodbyes in the Bible to cover, like when Jacob says goodbye to his family, he blesses them all, instilling hope in their lives for greater things, and when Paul says goodbye to the elders in the church of Ephesus and warns them of future challenges and instructing them to remain faithful to God’s care.
It’s clear throughout every story in the Bible where someone has to say goodbye to someone, there is a loyalty and devotion that is born. This loyalty and devotion is a reason to be grateful. That loyalty and devotion is rooted in the work of Christ. Even before Christ came to earth, His people had hope that He would come one day to save them, and today we can have hope that He will either save us after we leave this world or save us when He comes back. That’s a beautiful thing.
Biblical Foundations:
Acts 1:9-11 “After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’”
John 16:7 “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
2 Kings 2:9-14 “When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ ‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,’ Elisha replied. ‘You have asked a difficult thing,’ Elijah said, ‘yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.’ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. ‘Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.”
Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”
Ruth 1:16-17 “But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’”
Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 “‘When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Acts 20:24 “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Titus 2:13 “While we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 21:4 “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”