Good Morning Friends,
“And if Christ has not been raised, our
preaching is useless and so is your faith.
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for
we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not
raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised
either. And if Christ has not been
raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ are lost. If only for this life
we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the
dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians
15:14-20)
If this life is all there is, then it’s not
worth it being a Christian. I know there
are many blessings in this world from being in Christ, but there are some
things we miss, too. We miss the freedom
to sin all we please, in any way that might bring pleasure. We miss grabbing for all we can get no matter
what it does to the people around us.
Some of our activities are constrained by the Master we follow.
And, then, there is the trouble that comes
our way because of our faith. Some of us
have been ridiculed for following Jesus.
The ridicule is not worth it if there is nothing after the grave. Some Christians have been mistreated,
tortured, even killed for their faith.
How does that add to the joy of life, if life on earth is all there is?
If this life is all there is, then pity us
for giving ourselves to a hope that there is something beyond the grave.
But this life is not all there is! The resurrection of Jesus proved that. Jesus came back from the dead and in doing so
He demonstrated that the grave is not the end of life. There’s something beyond the grave. There’s an eternity ahead that awaits us.
These few years on earth are but a brief
prelude to the eternity that lies ahead.
In the end, no matter what following Jesus costs us on this earth, it
will all be worth it. As Paul reminded
us, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
His, by Grace,
Steve
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