A New Devotion - Our Reason for Hope

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

If we preach that Christ was raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? If they won’t be raised to life, Christ himself wasn’t raised to life. And if Christ wasn’t raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith. If the dead won’t be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not.

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. Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father.

Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, and the last enemy he destroys will be death. When the Scriptures say that he will put everything under his power, they don’t include God. It was God who put everything under the power of Christ. After everything is under the power of God’s Son, he will put himself under the power of God, who put everything under his Son’s power. Then God will mean everything to everyone.

Our Reason for Hope

Now-a-days, hope would seem to be in short supply. I mean, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. People are getting sick, and they’re losing their jobs and their insurance. And at the moment, things appear to be getting worst. There just doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel; there just doesn’t seem to be any clear end in sight. And to make matter worst, many of our leaders seem to be far more interested in avoiding responsibility and scoring popularity points than getting the folks they were elected to serve through this crisis. Instead of vision, we get excuses. Instead of unity, we see divisions. And because of that, it’s really not surprising that a lot of people are just plain losing hope for both themselves and their families.

But in the middle of this mess, there is a reason to hope. A few days ago, we celebrated Easter, the day we remember the resurrection of Jesus. And I’ll tell you, that resurrection reminds us that the last word won’t be given by viruses nor politicians nor even death itself. No, God is in control. You see, we can find our destiny in that empty tomb. And even though it might not be easy or painless, God will get us through all this. And regardless of what happens along the way, we have good reason to believe that our future is going to be glorious. You see, we can trust in God; he is our reason for hope.