{"id":3837,"date":"2018-12-22T15:37:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T21:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=3837"},"modified":"2018-12-22T23:25:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T05:25:42","slug":"what-god-has-to-say-about-your-great-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/what-god-has-to-say-about-your-great-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"What God Has to Say About Your Great Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loss is really painful in the holidays.<\/p>\n

\"overcoming
Our family’s loss shadows the holiday season\/Steve Blaising\/Lake Athens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was in a boat launching from shore this past summer when I got the call<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My brother-in-law died unexpectedly at 57 just months before we lost dad.<\/p>\n

So, our family gathers this holiday season with two vacant chairs.<\/p>\n

How do suffering folks\u00a0cope in the holidays<\/a>?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Don’t cry”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s what Jesus told a sobbing mother who lost her only son.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSoon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, \u2018Don\u2019t cry.\u2019 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, \u2018Young man, I say to you, get up!\u2019 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. \u2018A great prophet\u00a0 has appeared among us,\u2019 they said. \u2018God has come to help his people.\u2019”<\/strong>\u00a0Luke 7:11ff<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Was this baby God?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lots of folks probably ask this more than any other time of year.<\/p>\n

Can we really believe Jesus said and did these things?<\/p>\n

He came declaring, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”\u00a0 But, what is truth?<\/p>\n

And then I got to thinking, the truth bearer is the person who is either true or false.<\/p>\n

In other words, what does the person delivering the data look like?<\/p>\n

Aristotle said that truth is there when there is a match with reality.<\/p>\n

Jesus claimed to be God.\u00a0 Does this match the person Jesus was?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe who has seen me has seen the Father.\u00a0 These words you hear are not my own.\u00a0 They belong to the Father who sent me.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> John 14 selected verses<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Jesus was a liar, he\u2019d have all the characteristics of a liar, right?<\/p>\n

His whole life would be fraught with contradictions.<\/p>\n

But, Jesus lacks the contradictions in unstable people.<\/p>\n

Instead, we see love, compassion, desire, anger, sorrow and grief in balance.<\/p>\n