Pray For Those With Grandiose Ideas Of Spiritual Entitlement But Who Reject Jesus
Note: What we have here is Scripture, the blue/purple font in the image or the italics in the printed text (and lyrics when included and not otherwise noted) is written by Zeb of Virginia Beach Church and the other black text is AI generated.
Welcome to today’s Daily Redemption — where we face the painful truth that loving someone doesn’t rewrite their eternal choice, and false comfort dishonors both the lost and the Lord who died to save them.
Featured Scripture and Commentary:
Let me first say that in assembling the quotes for today’s bulletin I chose not to include 2 Thess 1:8-9 for this reason… God does not send anyone to hell as punishment. Maybe the devil and his fallen angels but those are the only ones. He does not ever want to see anyone choose their eternal dwelling away from Him. In fact, there are knowable reasons why we have yet to see Jesus return yet and these are: God wants all to come to repentance, to faith in Jesus and thereby to salvation through his Grace (undeserved favor). He is giving them the maximum amount of time to do so.
Walking the walk in faith in Jesus is not ever easy. Rewarding oh indeed yes but not necessarily easy. Our lives may be harder. We may lose friends. We might have to purge things from ourselves which we had grown accustomed to having as part of our lives for decades. Ideas have to be challenged and often changed. We risk persecution – lite and overwhelmingly heavy versions of it. And oh my goodness… we might even have to grow up. Although in doing so we also often regain our joy and youthful exuberance.
But one of the toughest things about growing in Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit and coming to understand why we are on this Earth in the first place. If you walk out as property of Jesus then you win the board game. If you don’t then eternal chastisement and torment is the reward of our choices. What makes it worse is seeing people basking in their delusions that they are ENTITLED to heaven because they were “good people” and that their loved ones are already there happily looking down on them.
Be advised as I say this: We don’t ever know who made the final cut on God’s team in Heaven unless we are faithful enough to some day make it there ourselves. We know what is on people’s lips. Only God knows what is really in their heart. For many, and especially many Jews, they know but they are afraid to confess to the world their faith. A Jew in Israel who believes that Jesus is the Messiah is no longer, by the government, considered Jewish! Someone with the Jesus shaped hole in their heart that has been filled but lives amongst the Hassidim in Bedford-Stuy may be convinced that discretion is the better part of valor. It is not our place to judge them.
However to blithely believe and hold to that someone who rejected Jesus in their heart made the final cut is delusional, ignorant and to me, I feel, tragic and sad. I pray for them. I reach out to them. “But why would God allow any good person to go to hell?” you ask. And let me defer here, as I will in every opportunity, to the Word, Romans 3: “There is nobody who is right with God. There is not even one person who is like that. All people have done wrong things… Nobody is as good as God in his glory wants them to be. But because God is very kind, he accepts us as right with himself. That is God’s gift to us. Jesus Christ has paid for our sins so that we have become free.” And so, I don’t claim to know every heart. Only God does. But I do know this: Scripture gives us one name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). So I’ll keep praying for the lost AND for that which is in me which has not yet fully been drawn out into the light. To you I say, keep sharing the truth in love. And keep pointing to Jesus — the only One who can bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. I started by saying that the walk we walk with Jesus as we follow him is not easy. Actually we get crucified daily. If you’re wrestling with this too, join me in prayer for discernment and understanding. The Word is our anchor. Let’s hold fast to it together.
Scripture:
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 3:18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Matthew 7:21–23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!'”
Luke 13:27–28
“But He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.”
Ezekiel 18:23
“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”
John 3:19–20
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”
Homily:
We bury them with “I know they’re in a better place” on our lips—while they spent their life saying, “I want nothing to do with Jesus.” That disconnect isn’t faith. It’s grief inventing a mercy God never promised to those who reject His Son. Scripture never tells us to comfort ourselves with assumptions about another’s eternal state. It tells us to mourn as those who have hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13)—but that hope is anchored in Christ’s return, not in wishful thinking about the departed. The real tragedy isn’t acknowledging that someone died outside of Christ—it’s refusing to face that reality while there’s still time to reach others. Your loved one’s choice is now fixed. Yours isn’t. Their rejection of Jesus doesn’t negate His offer to you. So grieve honestly. Love them truly. And let their story drive you to urgency—not delusion—for those still breathing.
Prayer:
Lord, this is hard. My heart aches for those I loved who walked away from You. Forgive me for the times I’ve comforted myself with lies instead of grieving with truth, like the first 58 years of my life. Help me hold two things at once: deep sorrow for their choice, and unwavering trust in Your justice and mercy. Don’t let my grief blind me to the urgency of the gospel for those still alive. And anchor my hope not in what I wish for the departed, but in what Christ secured for all who receive Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
DR, HonestGrief, John14, NoOtherName, DailyRedemption, TruthAndTears, GospelUrgency
#DailyRedemption #HonestGrief #John14 #NoOtherName #TruthAndTears #GospelUrgency #BibleDevotional #HopeWithoutDelusion
Is it loving to assume an unbelieving loved one is in heaven? In this Daily Redemption devotional, confront the tension between grief and truth—without cruelty or false comfort. Rooted in John 14:6 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13, this reflection calls believers to mourn with hope anchored in Christ alone, not in sentimentalized assumptions that dishonor both the lost and the Savior who died to save them. Visit theholygospel.net for more devotionals, original worship music by Zeb of Virginia Beach, and daily truth that anchors the soul. If this gave you courage to grieve honestly while holding fast to Christ, please like, subscribe, and share with someone navigating loss without losing truth. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
