I Corinthians 15.12-19
The resurrection is the fulcrum that launches new life into our hearts.
Without it nothing makes sense.
Without it our faith is a house of cards that comes crashing down around us.
It is an all or nothing proposition.
Did Jesus raise from the dead that Easter morning?
Paul makes the argument either Christ did raise from the dead or their is no resurrection at all for any of us.
If Christ did not rise from the dead then our proclamations are all in vain.
If Christ did not rise from the dead then your faith and mine is in vain. Paul says that that we are guilty of misrepresenting God, if we say Christ rose from dead and He really didn't.
To many people this is a sticking point - How can a man come back to life after being dead for three days?
The truth that Paul writes here is that is is a sticking point with him as well.
If Christ has not raised from the dead then our faith is futile. Matter of fact.
If Christ has not raised from the dead then we are all still lost in our sins and all those who have died believing are all lost as well.
The verse that convinces me most of all the Paul conviction was based on his own face to face encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus is verse 19. Here Paul says, hey what if this life is the ONLY life we get? No forever! No afterlife! No heaven! Let's pretend that there IS no resurrection - would it still be worth it to put our hope in Christ?
Paul's answer might surprise you but it shouldn't.
Paul says that if we put our hope in Christ for this world alone, we would be the most pitied of all people in the world.
Resurrection is not optional.
Paul's extreme makeover had as its impetus his meeting with the risen Christ.
What impact has meeting the risen Christ made in our lives?
Our we in the throws of our own extreme makeover?
He is risen or He is dead!
Is it all truth or it is all lies.
Paul would not have it any other way.
Neither should we.
2 comments:
He is alive indeed!!!!
I'm eagerly awaiting your next post. :)
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