December 3 - 1 Corinthians 15-16: Resurrection Reminder

"In writing to a church that was battling for its life against enormous odds, Paul had no interest in abstractions or speculations. He wrote of practical issues, the issues that affect the center of life. And one of those issues was the resurrection. What he wrote was essentially a reminder.

Several things stand out prominently in Paul's resurrection reminder. The first is how often he asserted that God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection was something God did. It was clear to Paul, and he wanted it to be clear to us, that the resurrection is the great example of God acting in this world. God is an active God, active in the routines and events of this world. He isn't a far-off Ruler of the universe. He's here, involved in the day-to-day events of our lives.

The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is the God who surrounds your life, the God you worship and serve. Suddenly the resurrection moves from the area of the spectacular to the area of personal involvement. The resurrection confronts us with something God has done. We're stopped by it, stunned by it. We have to look at it and do something about it...

We cannot afford to forget this. For the resurrection is an appearance to us as well. We're confronted with Jesus, who God raised up. We're personally faced with God's act of redemptive love.

What are we to do about it? Shelve it away as a dusty piece of doctrine? Or live it, depending on the power of God, who raised Jesus, to raise our marriages from the dead, to raise our hopes, our faith, our dreams?" Eugene Peterson, Conversations, pg. 1797

I can't say that I think about the resurrection very often. But as I'm pondering the beauty of the gospel more and more these days, I'm asking myself what the resurrection actually means to me. Does the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead impact the way I live? Is the gospel changing my attitude toward my failures and disappointments, toward those who are difficult to love?

It seems like the adoption process is the place where God is working out my false beliefs, hidden agendas, and boundless demands. This is the space where God is asking me to trust His goodness, to believe that He sees and He can and He will, to lay down my rights and my "but I thought(s)...", and to quit trying to manage my emotions so that only 'proper' ones are displayed. It's the space where I have no choice but to depend on the resurrection power of God because apart from God moving, I think our adoption is all but dead-in-the-water.

And so in my discouraged state, I take comfort and direction from Paul's words to the Corinthians.

But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. (15:10) 

Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute, and love without stopping. (16:13-14) 

Our Master Jesus has his arms wide open for you. (16:23)

It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. (15:33)

Lord, may these be true of me as well.