When Someone You Love Dies Without Christ

Trudy Harris spent years as a hospice nurse. She

sat at the bedside of hundreds of people in their final days,

close enough to hear the last breath. Most nights, she was the

only one who noticed the small things, a face relaxing, or a

few words spoken to someone no one else in the room could see.

One of her patients was an older man who'd spent his life with no

use for God. He let people know it, too. When Trudy came on

shift, he made his opinion of faith clear. She cared for him

anyway, day after day, and something between them began to

soften. Near the she felt she should tell him very plainly

that God loved him. She wasn't sure how he'd take it after all

those years of pushing it away. We'll come back to what happened

in that room, but

first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

Bart Leger. Let's read this video. I've stood with families

at the graveside of someone they loved who, as far as anyone knew,

never made peace with God. That's difficult for anyone who

longed for their family member to say yes to Jesus. People will

comfort you over the death itself. Fewer know what to say

about the question behind it, the one you don't dare ask at

the funeral, the one about where he or she is now and whether

they're with the Lord. I've been in living rooms with people

who've asked that question. All I can say is I know that God

will do right by them. Losing someone you love turns

everything sideways, no matter the circumstances. For when the

person who died never professed faith in Christ, there's an

added layer of grief. You replay old conversations. You wonder if

there was one more thing you could have said, one more time

you should have brought it up, and you want to know what

happened between them and God at the end, in a moment you weren't

in the room for. You can't know. And that not knowing can eat at

you for years. The Bible speaks of that not knowing. Moses said

something near the end of his life that a grieving believer

can hold on to. Listen to Deuteronomy 29.29. The Lord our

God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them,

but we and our children are accountable forever for all that

he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of

these instructions. The secret things belong to God. There are

things he has shown us plainly, how to be saved, how to come to

Christ, and there are things he keeps to himself. What passed

between your loved one and God in their final hours is one of

those secret things. You don't have the whole picture. Only God

does. And here's why that's grounds for hope instead of

dread. The God who holds those secrets is more merciful than

you can imagine, and more than just you can imagine, both at

once. He is not looking for a reason to turn someone away, and

he knows what happened in that last hour. The thought your

father never said aloud, the prayer your friend may have

breathed when no one could hear. Who knows but that they

understood the gospel and trusted Christ before they died.

You may not see it, but God can. And you can trust him with what

you don't know because he loved that person even more than you

did. And here's what Trudy saw in that room. Trudy told him the

simple thing. God loved him. And the man who had brushed off

faith his whole life took it in. Harris writes that he accepted

it and found peace before he died a few days later. She was

one of the only people who saw it happen. His family had years

of memories of a man who wanted nothing to do with God. What

Trudy watched at the end was a different picture, one they

might never have known about it if she hadn't been standing

there. Think about what that means. His family had years of

memories of a man who wanted nothing to do with God. And in

his last few days, out of their sight, he took in the love of

God and found peace. If Trudy hadn't been standing there, no

one would have ever known. There may have been a Trudy in your

loved one's final hours, a nurse, or a word from God himself that

they recalled that you'll never hear about on this side of

heaven. I want you to leave room for that. Leave it with a God

who was in the room when you couldn't be. Here's today's

challenge. If you're grieving someone whose faith you were

never sure of, I want you to do two things today. First, take

the question you can't answer, where they are now, and hand it

to God. Tell him, I can't know, but you do, and I trust you with

them. Second, let it move you toward the people still living.

You may love someone right now who doesn't know Christ. Don't

wait for a deathbed. Tell them the way Trudy told that man that

God loves them while you still have time. Father, we bring you

the ones we've lost and the questions we were never able to

answer about them. Thank you that the secret things belong to

you and that you are kinder and fairer than we know how to be.

We couldn't see their last moments. You were there. Give us

peace to leave them in your hands, trusting your mercy and

your justice together. And stir us to tell the people we still

have that you love them before the chance is gone. In Jesus'

name, amen. If this episode encouraged you today, would you

share it with someone who might need to hear it? Just go to

dailydevotionsforbusylives.com slash 295 and copy the link. It

only takes a second and it might make a real difference in

someone's day. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions

for Busy Lives. Remember, the secret things belong to the Lord

so you can grieve with hope and leave what you can't know in the

hands of a God more merciful than you can imagine. Come back

next time for more encouragement to help you live grounded in

God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.