Dealing with Loss (Non-Death)
• Sometimes we forget to grieve small losses. When people move away, or they leave the church, we need to work through the grief of losing them instead of stuffing it.
• Sometimes we grieve the death of a pet like it’s a person.
• Sometimes we don’t grieve the loss of a persons mental health, so the death is harder to deal with.
Dealing with Death
• Sometimes we grieve like non-believers, like we have no hope.
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. 14 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.
2 Timothy 4:6-8
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has arrived. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is stored away for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and he will give one not only to me, but to all those who have delighted in his appearing.
John 14:1-4
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
• Sometimes we fall into bad habits, or stop our good habits.
• Sometimes we romanticize or idolize the dead person. We only remember the good things, and we can live in guilt about what we’ve done without having a realistic view of who they were.
• Sometimes we avoid grief all together and we stuff our emotions.
• Sometimes we embrace grief instead of working through it.
Walking with Community During Grief
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Sometimes we shut out the very people God has put in our lives to help us work through the grief, or we are too proud to get counseling.
• Sometimes we focus so much on our pain, that we forget about the other people who are hurting because of the loss of that person. Or, sometimes we only focus on their pain, and we don’t feel it ourselves.
• Sometimes we use grief as an excuse and live in a victim mentality.
