Day 326, or November the 22nd. Christ is risen!
Hallelujah! Our thoughts today are from 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 14. If Christ has not been
raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your
faith. And now the big picture surrounding this
verse. After some sound advice for his fellow
believers that is still relevant today, Paul
finishes his letter by stressing the historical
fact of Christ's resurrection. He emphasizes
that some of the eyewitnesses are still alive
at the time of him writing. He goes on to say
that if Christ is not raised, we have nothing
worth passing on, and we are quite pathetic.
Then, very practically, Paul gives some basic
advice about, of all things, money. He advises
believers to put money aside on the first day
of each week, according to their ability, so
that there is no need for collections when he
visits. I often wonder what Paul would have said
about our fundraising efforts, but that's a completely
different story. And now, our action step for
today. All the leaders of the world's major religions
are dead. Christianity is unique in this respect,
as our founder is still alive and reigning and
influencing our world today. It's one thing to
consider different philosophies and beliefs,
and quite another to be confronted by the concept
of a man who was born 2,000 years ago and is
still alive. When Paul writes to the church in
Corinth, he goes to some length to labour this
point. The resurrection is the hinge -pin of
our belief, and the truth of it is underlined
by the fact that all the early believers were
willing to die for it. If there had been a conspiracy
and bodies snatched from the tomb, I find it
unbelievable that at least one follower wouldn't
have confessed rather than die for a lie. Today,
some simply look at the church or individual
believers and see less than perfection, and conclude
the whole thing is untrue. It's up to you and
me to live our lives in such a way that we are
living proof that some of Jesus' followers are
genuine, even if slightly flawed at times.