Read the recommended Bible passages and the thought-provoking blurb below. Send your partner a letter or notecard answering the questions at the end of this post.

Bible passages to read and reflect on this week:

1 Thessalonians 4:11-5:28 (The Key Passage is 1 Thes 4:13-14)

As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he included some instructions about grief. Believers in Christ in Paul's day, and likewise in the times in which we live, are not to grieve as those who do not know Christ. Certainly, we are sad when we lose a loved one. But we take comfort in the fact that if our loved one was a Christian, this is not a real "goodbye", but merely a "see you later." We read in scripture that the dead in Christ shall rise at His second coming. While there remains some degree of mystery about the second coming of our Savior, we do know that it is clear that because He died and rose again, those who die "in Him" (as Christians) will raise again as well. Their physical bodies will reunite with their spirits, and they will have a new and complete spiritual body at the same time. Rejoice in the fact that those who know Christ will spend eternity with Him. Death has truly "lost its sting" for the Christian!

Who are the dead in Christ, and what does the Bible teach about them?

How should we grieve differently than the world grieves, and why?

Did you have any other thoughts or questions from your study this week? Share your thoughts!