Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
I’ve tried to think of a dozen different ways to talk about this scripture passage today, but I keep circling back around to one particular thought. So I am going to assume that this is what God wants me to talk about and run with it! I am a fan of a Bravo TV show called “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.” On this show, a young realtor named Josh Flagg is featured. Frequently, his grandmother, Edith, is also showcased. For a long time, Josh Flagg lived in the same apartment building as his grandmother Edith…she occupied the penthouse – he lived a few floors below. It was not uncommon for Josh to drop everything and visit Edith – even late at night, wearing his pajamas!
Edith Flagg survived the Holocaust in Germany and emigrated to the United States after the WWII, with $2 in her pocket. Through hard work and determination, she built a name for herself in the fashion industry. Her business acumen and reasoning were amazing, and she often advised her grandson about real estate deals with flair and a no-nonsense delivery.
Edith Flagg died on August 13, 2014, at the age of 94. Mention has been made of her physical decline during this season’s episodes, and news of her passing was incorporated into last night’s airing. In one segment, Josh talked tearfully of how his grandmother had broken a hip then developed pneumonia, and things did not look good. Then in another segment, he received “the call” to come quickly and be with Edith. He sat through the night with her before she died around 6:00 a.m. No effort was made to downplay this young man’s grief – nor to hide it from public view. And yet, I did not find his treatment by the network to be exploitive. We saw Josh Flagg sitting with his partner, tears pouring from his face as he talked of how important Edith had been in his life…studying pictures of the two of them together…and wondering how life could ever be happy again without her to guide and delight him.
I wanted to reach through the television screen and wipe his tears. I wanted to hold this young man’s hand and console him…to tell him that his grandmother’s legacy and the lessons she gave to him will live on…that happy times will come again someday…that everything will be alright. But of course, I could not do this. And there are plenty of times when we are not able to console another, for a myriad of reasons. Quite honestly, this is not our job!
We cannot promise that there will be no heartaches…no sorrows, pain or crying. We most certainly cannot promise that there will be no more death. In fact, death is one thing that is pretty well certain for all of us! The only One who can truly “wipe away our tears” and make these promises is God…and He offers us this hope through the blood of Jesus and the assurance that we will spend eternity with Him in heaven.
God can often use us to console others…to wipe away their tears and make them feel better in any given moment. But understand that we are not the ones doing this…we are merely the vehicle for God’s love, care, healing and restoration. And in recognizing this, I realized that I can pray for this young man in Los Angeles – and his family – and ask God to send consolation for them. I can ask God to wipe away his tears and to fill him with hope and peace…to flood his heart with happy memories and sound advice…to help him to feel his grandmother’s hand guiding him each and every day.
We can all do this for others – many times each day, in a dozen different ways. We can stop and say a quick prayer for another person – even someone we only know from a television show. We can ask God to show us what to say and do to convey His healing power… to “wipe away the tears” in His name…and to offer the hope of a day when there truly will be no more sickness, sorrow, tears, grief and death. We can live with this hope in our own lives and demonstrate it to others, so that they might truly believe in God’s promises and claim them for themselves.
It’s a pretty sure bet that God has wiped your tears at one time or another. Now it’s your turn to pay it forward...to share His love and care with another and offer him/her the promise of a brighter day in Christ Jesus. Are you up for the challenge?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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