1 Corinthians 15:16-20
So if the dead won’t be raised to life, Christ wasn’t raised to life. Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else.
But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
It seems like every year, the Christmas decorations come out a little earlier. I think I heard the first Christmas commercial (gee thanks, K-Mart!) somewhere around the end of September. I am certain that there were Christmas decorations on the shelves alongside the Halloween costumes at Wal-Mart. And several people I know put up their Christmas tree and decorations a few days ago! It’s like we don’t believe Christmas will ever come again, so we have to grab all of it we can this year and make it last! And how many people do you know who will walk around in something of a funk for the first half of January… bemoaning the fact that the holidays are over?
Yes…I decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving Day. Yes…I keep our tree and decorations up through New Year’s! And I enjoy all of the holiday festivities… baking…gathering gifts and making treats for the little ones…sending Christmas cards…watching holiday specials on television…and inviting people into our home to enjoy a warm fire and some hot tea and a cookie or two! But I am so looking forward to the Ultimate Christmas… one that lasts all year long…an unending feast that doesn’t pack on an ounce around the hips and music and laughter like we have never heard before. I’m looking forward to celebrating every day with Jesus and fellow believers…a Christmas Day that never ends! And I know that it is coming!
For this reason, I can pack away the decorations in January and continue to enjoy my earthly life. I know that Christmas Day will come again… one way or another. I honestly do not understand how people function without this hope. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to believe that this earthly life is all there is… that when you die, you die, and it’s all over. I refuse to believe that Jesus isn’t waiting for me… that my friends and loved ones who knew Jesus and loved Him on this earth and have “passed over” already are not there waiting, as well. I will not believe that this is the end… that there isn’t one continual celebration waiting for me “on the other side.” And I hope you cannot believe this, either!
There is an old hymn that says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” It ends with… “life is worth the living, just because He lives.” Is this true for you? Do you believe that Jesus lives… that He is waiting for you and will raise you to life in heaven for all eternity? Are you able to face tomorrow because He lives? Don’t you want to be? This is the day to ensure your spot at the Ultimate Christmas celebration. Now is the time to fall to your knees and say, “Jesus, I know that You rose again. I believe that You are alive and waiting for me… and I want to be with You forever.” We basically have two options…choose to live in the confidence that Christ rose again and waits for us… or live without any hope at all and be worse off than anyone else. Will your life be “worth the living” because of the hope and faith that Jesus lives? Or will you face the emptiness of living with the idea that your “Christmases” - and your life itself - are finite? The choice is totally yours…what will you decide?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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