Proof of His Love

Last week, I had a long conversation with a woman who is grieving over the loss of her young husband. It was a profound talk, one that reverberated with me deeply. In fact, as we talked, laughed, and cried together, I had to agree with her about the one aspect of mourning that continues to plague her most.

“I just never thought that grief would last this long,” she said. “I kept telling myself that sooner or later, it would get easier, and I would begin to miss him less and less. But that’s not the case; it’s almost as if I miss him more every day.”

Then, this young widow spoke about all the things she missed most about her husband – his voice, his laughter, his smell, the touch of him sleeping beside her, and even silly things like him leaving his dirty socks on the floor or putting his gym shoes on the kitchen countertop.

She shared how empty her house feels, and how a commercial on television or a post on social media can once again bring an immediate, intense, heartbreaking realization that her husband is not there, and he’s not coming back.

Although I had no instant words to make her sadness go away, I did agree that the grief journey never ends, and it won’t end until we reach the feet of Jesus and He says, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

From experience, I also did not try to offer this woman platitudes or assurance that all will be well and get better or easier. But I did offer her one encouragement that I have garnered after 2.5 years of living without our adult son, Chris, in our daily lives. For me, this line of thought came from studying and searching the scriptures repeatedly for God’s words of healing and hope, not my own words or the world’s answers.

So, I sat quietly and waited for a lull in our conversation, and then I whispered one question, “Do you know how I know that God is real?”

My sweet friend responded through tears, “How?”

“My grief is proof that God is real.”

“Wait, what do you mean, Joy? I don’t understand.”

For the next few moments, I sat there and slowly but surely traced the biblical hope that I hold tightly to in my grief, a hope that rests solely in my Savior, Christ Jesus. This Bible-based truth is simple but also profound. And these are just a few of many verses that explain my hope in the eternal nature of God’s love:

God is love (1 John 4:8).

God’s love is great (1 Corinthians 13:13).

God’s love is eternal (Psalm 136).

God’s love is offered to us eternally (John 3:16).

God’s love is meant to be shared (1 John 4:19; John 13:34).

God’s love will fill eternity (1 Corinthians 2:19).

I added, “If God is love, and we serve God, then His love abides in us. And His love is eternal; it never dies.”

I paused before concluding, “You were married to a man who served God with his heart and life, a man who shared that eternal love of God with others daily. So, of course, you are still grieving, because you both served and loved the One whose love never dies.

“So, for both of us, our temporary grief is living proof of our eternal Savior, the One who loved us so much that He died in our place,” I told her.

We finished our phone conversation by celebrating that scriptural proof and reminding each other of the hope we have while we are waiting for that final (and eternal) celebration of His love.

This hope is found throughout the Bible in verses such as Matthew 5:14, John 16:22, Romans 8:18, Psalm 147:3, and one of my favorites, Revelation 21:4: “And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

We hung up the phone, and I tried to move on, but that still, small voice within me kept reminding me that not everyone has accepted God’s gift of eternal love.

In fact, data gathered by Pew Research Center in 2024, found that only 62% of all Americans profess to be Christians, meaning that 38% of the Americans who die every day face eternity without openly professing Jesus as their Savior and accepting His freely offered gift of eternal life and love.

If that thought is not disturbing enough, according to North American Community Hub Statistics (NCH Stats), an online global source for community and medical statistics, 8,460 die each day in the United States. Similarly, the national and world population clocks run by the United States Census Bureau currently tally one death in America every 10 seconds.

Combine all those facts and do the math.

Over 3,200 of our fellow Americans die each day and face an eternity without the loving gift of God’s salvation. The sobering truth is that those souls face an eternity in hell.

Yet, professing Christians (the 62% who claim to have accepted and live by the truth that His freely offered love never dies) are doing little to nothing to stop this hellish tragedy of lives lost.

Yes, God is love, and His eternal, undying love for us was so great that He came to seek and save the lost. But how can we as Christians stand by without helping others to receive the great gift of God’s love?

I am not speaking for others, but I think that in my grief over the child who is only temporarily lost to me, I forgot to grieve for the thousands of His lovingly created sons and daughters who are eternally lost each day, despite His life-giving efforts to save them from sin.

God, forgive me!

But instead of just acknowledging and grieving those sons and daughters, let’s get busy and prevent those eternal losses by sharing His eternal love: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).

Now, that kind of grief in action would be real and lasting proof of God’s love.

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