Recently, my wife Cheyann and I have been discussing the timeline of when we would like to begin trying to have children. Due to my Seminary workload, combined with my Pastoral internship at Mosaic, my available time was next to none, so even thinking about children was somewhat off the table until now.
All this to say, in that conversation, I found myself pained with guilt. We have put so many things on hold in pursuit of my ministerial aspirations, and all the while, Cheyann has been nothing but supportive. A few weeks go by and I think to myself, “Man…if I wasn’t in seminary, we would be in a whole other place, doing completely different things, and probably struggling less.”
This reminded me of Paul’s words in First Corinthians: “For, if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied,” (1 Cor. 15:16-19). He continues, saying, “If the dead are not raised, ’Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,’” (15:32).
For Paul, if Christ has not been raised, his life would look drastically different. Paul’s hypothetical shows us that his present suffering, and all the preserving hope therein, would be for nothing if Christ had not been raised. Therefore, why would he not eat, drink, and be merry—tomorrow, he’s dead anyway!
The question for us then is this: if you knew that Jesus Christ had not been raised, meaning we have neither salvation nor future hope, how different would your week look? How different would your life look?
For some of you, it would look incredibly different. For others of us, things would mostly stay the same. If you find yourself in this latter camp, as I have at pivotal times in my own life, it’s worth pondering why.
Many of you need to see this as a means of encouragement – You’ve made inconvenient decisions on account of what you believe Christ is calling you to do; you’ve suffered because of this. However, playing the “what if” game, as I did, is useless and assumes that God doesn’t know what He’s doing. But He does! Christ has risen! Therefore, your suffering is not for nothing; it’s not in vain.
Others of us need to see Paul’s message as a stern kick in the keester – If our lives are to be marked by a belief that one day Christ is in fact coming back, and yet, they look identical to the lives of those who do not hold this belief, a reevaluation is to be made. Thankfully, the Lord’s way of living is a comfort to the Christian, a light burden carried by Christ Himself!
The beauty of the Christian life is in this Triune God-empowered change of heart. The Father desires that you might be conformed to the image of His Son, and He accomplishes this through His Holy Spirit.
He beckons you into a truer, deeper life. Further up and further in!
