“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
Today my daughter was feeling a little blue (something unusual for her) because she’d been missing her granny who went to be with Jesus a few years ago. She asked me if I thought it was silly to ask Jesus to tell her hi and that she loved her and missed her very much.
Perhaps some of you have had similar thoughts and have prayed similar prayers. I’ve even turned it around and asked God what someone in heaven would tell us if they could. I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with that either. (You might be surprised what they would tell us – Remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus?) Let me leave you with just a thought about this.
When a Christian dies his body returns to the earth and his eternal spirit returns to God the Father in heaven. The “spirit” in the verse in Ecclesiastes is (my definition) that eternal animating life force that distinguishes each of us from one another, sometimes referred to as the “heart” ...It is the seat of our emotions, our intellect, our thoughts and our personality…It is the essence of who we are.
When a Christian dies he or she “goes” to heaven where Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God the Father hearing and responding to our heartfelt requests offered according to His perfect will. Heaven is a place of real and everlasting joy, peace, contentment and happiness in the presence of our Lord Jesus.
Part of the joy that IS heaven is that it is a place devoid of pain, sorrow and death…a place where tears have been wiped away and the curse and penalty of sin will never be thought of again…A place where joy (the absence of sadness) reigns supreme! When Nicky prayed and asked Jesus to please tell her granny hi and that she loved and missed her, what greater joy could she have given to her this side of heaven than to let her know that she was still thought of, she was still missed and that she was still loved? To my way of thinking…no one ever really dies as long as they’re remembered and what greater memorial than to ask Jesus to let them know that?
Yes Nicky, I think that’s one of those prayers that I could certainly expect Jesus to answer.