It’s a passage that has always seemed so sad to me – John 6:41-71.

Jesus has just said some hard things about what following Him really looks like and “from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” (John 6:66).

Surely, as John wrote those words, the faces of his friends and loved ones who had walked away came to his mind.

It wasn’t that they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying. It is that they could not accept it.

And this is why many we love walk away today.

They simply can’t surrender all their lives to Jesus. They want part, but not whole, and they walk away from the real peace He offers to cling to that which never can.

And that is gut-wrenching to watch, and many tears have fallen, as we long for those we love to not walk away from Christ.

And when those we love walk away, we may even feel tempted to also leave God in our sadness and pain.

Jesus knows this. Jesus asked Peter on that day that so many left them to go their own way, “Do you also want to go away?

But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68-69)

And because we know Christ to be the Son of the Living God, who has the words of eternal life, where else would we go?

But this is a hard road to walk isn’t it? What if we never see those we love come to Christ?

I’m not saying there is anything impossible for God. There is not. (Luke 1:37)

But in some situations, there is a sadness, a hurt, a loss, that may not resolve, the way we hope, this side of Heaven.

What about those times?

And, what if your loved one dies without Christ?

I can barely write those horrifically sad words.

But for some it is reality.

And, I rarely, if ever, hear anyone talk about how those who truly believe in Heaven and Hell, and love others who die without Christ, deal with this most gut-wrenching of losses.

For that sad loss is eternal. This pain is enduring until we, who love them, take our final breath.

But God, who sent His Son to die, even for those who would ultimately reject Him , also intimately knows the pain of those who also loved them to the end and had The Psalmist write, “You have kept count of my tossings; you put my tears in your bottle.”(Psalm 56:8).

God, who never slumbers (Ps 121:4), has seen our every sleepless, tossing night and held our every tear. He knows the tears we’ve cried for those who have walked away.

But one day, these seemingly unending tears will be no more, and I believe this is the very reason God also had the Apostle John also record these words about the vision of Heaven God gave him on the island of Patmos—

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 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.” (Rev 21:1-4)

God, Himself, will finally, and forever, wipe away every tear from our eyes.

One day, even the greatest of sad things will be no more.

I can’t imagine how He actually does that, but this I know, God always keeps His promises. Always.

One day He will hold His children close and every sadness will be no more and every tear forever dry.

nomoretears

sadthingsuntrue

peace

lovingthelost

Kimjaggers.com