APRIL 23, 2014
Shout
Hallelujah!
Read: 1
Corinthians 15:50-58
O Death, where is your sting? —1
Corinthians 15:55
A few days ago, I
spied my old friend Bob vigorously pedaling a bike at our neighborhood gym and
staring down at a blood pressure monitor on his finger.
“What are you doing?”
I asked.
“Looking to see if I’m
alive,” he grunted.
“What would you do if
you saw you were dead?” I countered.
“Shout hallelujah!” he
replied with a radiant smile.
Over the years I’ve
caught glimpses of great inner strength in Bob: patient endurance in the face
of physical decline and discomfort, and faith and hope as he approaches the end
of his life journey. Indeed he has found not only hope, but death has lost its
power to tyrannize him.
Who can find peace and
hope—and even joy—in dying? Only those who are joined by faith to the God of
eternity and who know that they have eternal life (1 Cor. 15:52,54). For those
who have this assurance, like my friend Bob, death has lost its terror. They
can speak with colossal joy of seeing Christ face to face!
Why be afraid of
death? Why not rejoice? As the poet John Donne (1572–1631) wrote, “One short
sleep past, we wake eternally.”
For the Christian,
dying is the last shadow of earth’s night before heaven’s dawn.
Insight
Paul’s first letter to
the Corinthians is more concerned with dealing with problems than it is with
teaching doctrinal truth to the church. However, in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul’s
focus is not on problem-solving but on the vital importance of the doctrine of
the resurrection. Obviously, the resurrection of Christ is one of the central
truths of the Christian faith, so it is not surprising that the apostle would
want his friends to grasp its reality and significance.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
