INTRODUCTION

The Bible teaches that man is made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. Death occurs when the soul (Genesis 35:18And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
See All...) and the spirit (Genesis 25:8Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.
See All...) leave the body. This is true regardless of a person’s spiritual condition. Saved or lost, a person’s spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 3:21Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
See All...; Ecclesiastes 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
See All...). However, the destination of the soul is based upon whether or not a person has trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour. For a saved person, the Bible declares that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
See All...). Unfortunately, the same is not true for the lost. Immediately after death, the soul of a lost man is in hell (Luke 16:23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
See All...).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For smaller children) If you are sad over a saved person's death, read Ecclesiastes 7:1A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
  See All.... Why is this true? Because the person's troubles are over. They are with God (Philippians 1:21
  See All..., 23). Our sadness is really for ourselves because we miss them. They are very happy.
• Why is it important to pray for the salvation of loved ones before they die? How can we also use times of illness and serious injury to remind our loved ones of their need to be saved?
• Why should scriptural knowledge of death help us in the departure of saved loved ones? How should it sober us in the departure of lost loved ones?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Pray for your loved ones who may be lost.
• Thank God that death only temporarily separates the saved.

HYMN

Absent from Flesh! O Blissful Thought!

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