RESURRECTION GRATITUDE
1 Corinthians 15:3-23
Vs. 14: “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-23
Vs. 14: “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”
There are people who call the Bible a collection of fairy tales. If Christ is not risen from the dead, as they claim, why are you reading this devotion? Why am I writing this? Our faith would be useless. Loved ones who preceded us in death would have no hope for an afterlife. Where’s our hope? What would be the point of living?
St. Paul has made this point clear to the Corinthians. What is the point of Christ’s being raised from the dead if the dead would not also rise? For if the dead won’t rise to life again, then Christ also, isn’t risen.
If this life is all we have, then we are most pathetic!
But as we know for sure that Christ is alive today, and has become the first fruits of all who are sleeping in death, then we, who are Christ’s, will rise at His coming. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the deposit of things that we know for certain must come.
Pentecost is proof that Christ is alive and well because the Holy Spirit rocks!
How many times do we utter, “Thank God” when something goes our way? Well, THANK GOD for Christ’s resurrection! Can you think of anything more important than the assurance of salvation? Forgiveness of sins? Everlasting life? When you consider that all our hope and faith is bundled up in Christ’s resurrection from the dead, then resurrection gratitude becomes a very big deal!
Take Home Nugget
Take one second to consider how you’d feel if Christ isn’t alive. You are sovereign of your life if God is not alive. You’re alone, living without security of a loving God being in charge of the Universe. The tether securing your life to the One Who gave you life is severed. You float away without purpose or direction.
Did you feel your sail go limp, your rudder stall? That hollow feeling in the center of your being is life without the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.
This is what eternal life will feel like for people whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 20:12). God is life. Without Him, we are dead: Dead in sin—and separated from the Father. Separation from the Father is what Jesus anguished over on the cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!”
May this separation from God’s embracing love never happen to you.
Thank God for Christ’s Resurrection!
Nothing brings gladness more.
Peace and joy stream from soul’s sanctification,
Secure therein our heart’s store.
J.D. Griffith
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