While out walking the family dog, my nephew Andy was hit by a car. Someone saw the accident and stopped to give him CPR and call for an ambulance. A ventilator kept him alive for a week. Miraculously, he was weaned off the sedation medicines and vent the day after Christmas and told his wife, parents, brother, and five children, “I love you.” Emotions and hope soared! But the very next day, he died.

All of his children, ages fifteen to twenty-one, spoke through their tears at his God-honoring memorial service. Daughter Julia read a quote that made those in attendance think: “It’s not about how much we lost. It’s about how much we have left.”

But the truth is, those of us who knew and loved him lost so much with Andy’s passing—a beautiful life lived for Jesus—and he’s greatly missed. What do we have left that gives us hope? Ephesians 1 speaks of the spiritual blessings Andy and other believers have in Jesus: We’re “blameless in his sight” (v. 4), “predestined . . . for adoption to sonship” (v. 5), “[redeemed] through his blood” (v. 7), and “[forgiven] of sins [by] God’s grace” (v. 7). “The promised Holy Spirit” lives in us and guarantees “our inheritance” with Him in the life to come (vv. 13-14).

Those who love Jesus have His gift of eternal salvation.