¹² But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. ¹⁵ And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. ¹⁶ And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. ¹⁸ In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! ¹⁹ And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Dear God, way back when I was 22 I remember getting into a conversation with a man at work. His name was Wally, and he was a great guy. We both worked in sales for a Christian music/book publisher called Word. He sold books and I sold music. We were talking about heaven and after life, and I told him what I had taught kids at a summer camp a few years before: Living a Christian life is worth the peace, joy, and freedom we get this side of death, and even if there were no afterlife with you it would be worth it. He disagreed and quoted this passage to me. I hadn’t really seen this passage before, and I was chastened. I had no response. It’s always stuck with me. Obviously it has because I’m sitting here 34 years later thinking about it as soon as I read this verse.

I wouldn’t say that I disagree with Paul here, but I would say that I think he took the passage out of context and misinterpreted it. I think Paul is saying that Jesus’s power is in his resurrection so if we don’t believe in resurrection then we don’t believe in who Jesus is (you, part of the Triune God). If there’s nothing supernatural and other worldly about Jesus then what are we doing? If we are following a false god then we are to be pitied. There’s a thread that we pull on if we say there is no afterlife, and that thread will unravel the entire theology of Jesus’s pre-existence to his birth, his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. If that’s unraveled then what are we doing.

But I will still hold to my theology that life is still worth living in worship of and relationship with you regardless of the existence of an eternal reward. You are the vine and I am the branch. Without you, I have no fruit. Without your fruit, I have not joy, peace, love, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Without your love, no matter how talented or good I might think I am, I am just a clanging gong.

Father, I appreciate the depth of who you are and your power. I appreciate Jesus’s sacrifice of even coming to earth in the first place. What an amazing gift. I offer you whatever it is about myself that I know how to offer. Teach me to offer you more. Teach me to love, sacrifice, and serve more. Teach me to pray. Teach me to serve. Teach me to persuade. Teach me to suffer. All for your glory and your kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen