1 Corinthians 15

Okay so I was just reading 1 Corinthians 15 and figured I'd post a blog on what came to me during my reading.

The beginning of the chapter talks about the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Now, I was reading this and nothing was really sinking in for some reason and then a thought occurred to me. We have really beat the Gospel to death. Stay with me. We've heard and talked about the Gospel for SO long that it almost loses it's meaning with us. When we think of Jesus being nailed to the cross...a lot of times it just comes across as just that...words. Do we really consider all of the physical pain and agony? All of the suffering that OUR sins put our Lord Jesus Christ through for US? Do we even try to imagine the pain He went through all so we could be forgiven when we have done absolutely NOTHING to deserve it? No. We've heard it so many times that we rarely let it sink in anymore.

Now some religions preach that the cross and the resurrection are pointless and merely "symbols." Oprah said that the cross was a symbol to help you find the god within yourself. Think about how many people listen to her. It's sad that she's misleading such a multitude. Now..back to what I was talking about in the previous paragraph. When we think of the resurrection, we need to realize that Jesus was DEAD. D-E-A-D Dead. The Bible says that Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time. He was fully dead. As in no heart beat, no blood flow, and no oxygen in the lungs. For 3 days, he was dead. And then, He conquered it! He became alive again after being dead! Wow. We can't even grasp that concept enough to fully appreciate the weight of it.

I don't understand how some religions preach the Bible...but don't believe in the resurrection. It says clearly in vs. 14 that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, our preaching and even our entire Faith is futile and useless. But we should be rejoicing because He did rise from the grave and He did conquer death so that we would never have to face it! Vs. 55 "Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Lastly...I'm going to try not to go to in depth with this b/c I want to do a separate blog later on walking in the Spirit. We should glorify Him in all that we do because then, and only then, will our actions not be in vain. Vs. 58 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

That means everything! Whether it's getting ready for class in the morning or going on foreign missions. Everything should be Christ-centered for us. I'm going to make myself stop there due to the fact that I'll go more in depth with that in another blog. Goodnight all! I love comments by the way.