My two little girls had a lot of questions when grandma died. Death is shocking, sad, and very hard to work through, perhaps especially when the person that dies is someone that you had a strong relationship with. The children’s book What Happened When Grandma Died explains it this way: Grandma had 3 things– her body, her house, and her life. After she died, she no longer needed those things. God gave her a new body, a new house, and a new life.

The words from today’s Psalm are actually a hymn, a song of thanksgiving for the three things that God gives us when we die. First, he will give us a new body. Our earthly body is full of sin. We sin with our actions, our words, and our mind. We can’t even stop the sinful thoughts from creeping in. Our earthly body will fail us—perhaps we have poor eyesight or a weak back. When we see these weaknesses in our body, we are reminded that we live in a sinful world. Our new body, however, will never get sick, hurt or tired.

After we die, God will also give us a new home in heaven, and there he gives us a new life. This new home won’t have plumbing issues and it won’t fall apart. Our new life will be completely free from sin and the sad consequences that come from it. In heaven we will continue to praise God for the mighty things that he has done.

Our job on earth is to work for him and carry out the mission to “go and tell” all the “mighty things he has done” until our turn on earth is over. We study the life of Jesus by reading the Bible and learn the great things that Jesus did while he was alive. Jesus healed the sick, comforted his friends, gave true hope to sinners, trained his disciples, and even raised people back to life! And, after a life of giving to the world, he allowed his enemies to nail him to a cross. We are those enemies! We are the reason he had to die!

And yet, because of his death and by crushing the devil, he continues to give us even more! His victory over death earned us our new body, new house, and new life. Let’s share this news with the world!