Till We Are Home

Our church preached through a series based on David Mathis’ Advent devotional, The Christmas We Didn’t Expect. Right before Christmas, I preached on Matthew 13:36-52, focusing mainly on the coupled parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Value. From these, as Mathis does in his book, I pointed out the unexpected joy we can have in Christ if we understand the truth and reality of the judgment to come. 

I won’t go into all the details, but feel free to listen to the sermon here.

As I meditated on this Scripture during the weeks leading up to Christmas and walking through our fourth Christmas without Isabel, the Lord used this text and the truth behind it in unexpected and merciful ways. In 2022, after our daughter went home to be with the Lord, we wondered if we’d ever be able to celebrate Christmas or any holiday again. With successive seasons, that question lingered more or less in the same way.

However, this was the first Christmas, the first holiday since she went home that we actually felt joyful. 

Yes, sorrow still abounds for we will always miss our little girl. However, the Lord does move in His people’s lives and hearts to bind up wounds, bring light into dark places, and gives of Himself in great and wonderful ways. Our Christmas this year was a little lighter from the heaviness of grief. Again, not because we forgot about our Izzy, but purely because the Lord is just that good. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Ps 147:3)

Not only were we able to walk a little lighter in this season, we even experienced joy again. And this joy was an overflow from our hearts for what the Lord has worked in us. But not only that…not only because of what He’s done but who He is. 

Jesus is the treasure hidden in a field that in finding Him, in our joy, we go and give our entire lives over to Him to keep Him, as Jesus tells through the parable in Matthew 13:44. This joy is transformative because it changes and reorients our priorities even to the point of dying to ourselves to pursue and follow Jesus.

We even die to our “rights” to grieve like the world or that borne out of our own guilt.

There’s a weird pressure when it comes to grieving a loved one’s death. The temptation can be that we never move forward from grieving a loved one, especially one that was so near as a spouse or a child. Years can go by and we still wear mourner’s clothes, so to speak. Our disposition can be one of perpetual sadness and gloom. We don’t allow ourselves to rejoice or stop unhealthy rhythms in the name of my great grief.

I get it…I understand. I miss my little one so much, too. But, if I stop there, I miss out on the goodness of the Lord who came to this earth for the very reason to bring light into darkness…to bring healing to brokenness…to bring life from death. 

If we focus our grief, our lives away from ourselves and turn to Jesus, we can find great help and great joy even in the midst of sorrow. Yes, it will take time, but He is patient and kind and will work through your sorrow to bring you so much joy that you would sell everything to have Him. 

True, lasting joy is possible even in the midst of our darkest of days. Not because our sorrow isn’t real and not because we can achieve anything we want…no, it’s possible because our God is just that great. Jesus is our greatest treasure. He is our greatest joy. And He is worthy of our dying to ourselves and giving our all for His glory and to know Him more…

Till we are home…