\n Beth Ann Baus<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n | Crosswalk.com Contributor<\/em><\/span> <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Most of us would admit that when our emotions get the best of us, we say things we don\u2019t mean. Other times, we say exactly what we mean but we don\u2019t choose our words carefully and end up implying something that just isn\u2019t true. This offense seems particularly common when a person dies, something I know to be true from personal experience.<\/p>\n Grief is mentally and physically exhausting. We should all be quick to extend grace to someone in mourning, especially when they say something unkind or untrue. Grief can create a gaping hole in our verbal filters. It can also skew our sense of reality, causing us to say and do things that we otherwise would not. As believers, we should consider the impression our words will leave on those who don\u2019t know the Lord, or on those who are new in their faith and are growing in their understanding of God.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever attended a visitation and taken the time to scan the memorial gifts, you\u2019ve likely seen someone\u2019s sincere thoughts etched on a plaque, an afghan, or garden stone. These words express the depth of loss and the immense love felt towards the deceased. These poetic sentiments sound good, and we might even carry the words with us for the rest of the day. But we need to remember that even our sentiments of grief must be tested against the Word of God. When we speak under the weight of emotion, we must not imply things about God and His character that aren\u2019t true. The following are 10 phrases that every Christian should think through before speaking aloud after someone has died.<\/p>\n Photo credit: \u00a9Thinkstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n The thought behind this is truly lovely; it implies that you loved someone so much and miss them so tremendously that if you collected all the tears you\u2019ve cried, you could use them to build a stairway to Heaven. That\u2019s a lot of tears!<\/p>\n This statement also implies that you would do anything to see your loved one again. This sounds like the most loving proclamation we could possibly make about someone. But in this statement we\u2019re also proclaiming how extremely selfish and self-serving we are.<\/p>\n If our loved one is in Heaven, in the presence of God, the most unloving thing we could possibly do is remove them from Paradise and bring them back to our broken earth. I guarantee that if using your tears to build a stairway to Heaven was possible, your loved one wouldn\u2019t want to come back with you. That wouldn\u2019t be a reflection of how they feel about you, but rather a reflection of how they feel about God.<\/p>\n RELATED: Listen to our FREE BIBLE podcast,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Bible Never Said That.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0All of our episodes are available at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>LifeAudio.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n | Published:<\/b> Feb 29, 2024<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"10](\"https:\/\/i.swncdn.com\/media\/900w\/cms\/CW\/faith\/41793-ssh-1200.1200w.tn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"1.](\"https:\/\/i.swncdn.com\/media\/900w\/cms\/CW\/faith\/42598-heaven-gate-1200.1200w.tn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. Heaven Is a Better Place Now That They’re in It<\/h2>\n
\n\tWhen we say that Heaven is a better place because our loved one is in it, we have good intentions.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat we mean is that our loved one was extremely special and that any place would be made better by their presence.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile that statement might have been true here on earth, it simply won\u2019t be true in Heaven. When we say this, we\u2019re implying that Heaven isn\u2019t perfect and that even though we\u2019ll be in the presence of our Lord and Savior, it will be even better because of the presence of our loved one.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe implications of this statement not only increase the significance of your loved one, but also decrease the significance of God by implying that being in His presence isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
\n\tGod, in His infinite wisdom, has refrained from sharing specifics about Heaven with us. But what we can be certain of is that Heaven will be perfect. Heaven will be perfect because God is flawless, as is His dwelling place. God has allowed His children to abide in Him and to reside with Him in Heaven. Nothing, not even the presence of our loved ones, could make that better.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere will be no disappointments in Heaven and no room for improvements.<\/p>\n
\n\tPhoto Credit:\u00a0\u00a9GettyImages\/LeArchitecto<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n![\"2.](\"https:\/\/i.swncdn.com\/media\/900w\/cms\/CW\/faith\/42582-hands-reaching-1200.1200w.tn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n2. If My Tears Could Build a Stairway, I Would Climb to Heaven and Bring You Home<\/h2>\n