1 Corinthians 15:50-58
And this I say, my brothers and sisters, that flesh and
blood is not powerful enough to gain possession of the kingdom of God. Neither does decay gain possession of imperishability. Behold!
I say a mystery to you all. All
people will not be dying, but all people will be altered in an instant – in the
blink of an eye, in the last trumpet blast.
For He will sound a trumpet and the dead ones will be raised imperishable
and we will be altered. For it is
necessary for this perishable thing to dress itself in the imperishable and
this mortal thing to dress itself in immortality. And when this perishable thing dresses itself
in the imperishable and this mortal thing dresses itself in immortality, then
the words that have been written will become: “Death was being swallowed up in
victory. Death, where is your
victory? Death, where is your sting?” And the sting of death is sin. But the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to the God who gives victory to
us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, become unwavering, unshaken,
while always abounding in the work of the Lord, while knowing that your work is
not in vain in the Lord.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought
Read Paul’s words very carefully as he opens this section of
verses. Not only will flesh and blood
not inherit the kingdom of God, but flesh and blood is not even powerful enough
to gain possession of it. Here is
another reiteration of a truth that we know.
We cannot save ourselves. We
cannot bring ourselves into eternal life.
We live eternally because we have received an incredible gift from
God! We can know eternal life because of
God’s work. We can be saved because of
who God is. We owe everything to God and
His gracious hand of blessing upon our lives.
How grateful are you to God for eternal life? How do you demonstrate this gratitude to God?
Second Thought:
Paul then tells us a mystery. We will not all die. That means that God isn’t going to wait for
humanity to kill ourselves off before returning and setting up His eternal
kingdom. But we will all be
changed. We will all be altered into a
new existence. The dead – who demonstrate
our perishable nature – will be raised imperishable. This is why Paul tells us at the end to be
strong and to be unwavering and to remain steadfast. We can trust in this promise, because God has
proven Himself trustworthy. If God can
raise Jesus from the dead, He can also raise us from the dead! How long we are dead is irrelevant to
God. We should place our trust in the
fact that He can turn this perishable nature into an imperishable one.
Do you understand the resurrection? Why do you think Paul calls this a
mystery? Do you think you must
understand every aspect of the resurrection to place your trust in it?
Third Thought:
Finally, we have one of my favorite quotes in scripture. Death, where is your sting? Death, where is your victory? Here is the truth that I honestly believe. My life only gets better when death comes to
me. Now granted, I’m not looking to
force my death quicker than God sees fit.
Neither do I want to overlook the fact that the process of dying is
sometimes painful and difficult. But the
reality is that after we die, life indeed gets better! There is no sting of death when our
perspective is on the eternal! The
trick, of course, is living with this perspective.
Do you fear death?
Why or why not? Do you live life
as though there is no sting in death?
How can you live this way each and every day?
Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
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