Facing Death

“I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
’Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”

— 1 Corinthians 15:31-32

Today’s Text: 1 Corinthians 15:29-34 (Living Life Daily Devotional)

Paul is saying that he puts his life on the line “every day” for the sake of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ—that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning.

Very few people on this earth could say the same thing. Even so, all of us face death every day, in that we will all die one day (unless Jesus comes back while we still are living). And none of us knows, really, what even the next second has in store for us.

The fact of our faith is that the day of the resurrection of the dead is coming. So why is it that so many of us act as if “the dead are not raised.” Instead, we just go along our merry ways, saying, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

There is a truth of the utmost importance for our lives: Jesus Christ is coming back one day. It could be today! It could be in the next second!

We have been hypnotized by the devil with the regularity of existence. But knowing with certainty through the Holy Spirit that Jesus could return at any moment ought to make us pause and think about the purpose of our lives.

We don’t necessarily need to carry around banners that say “Jesus is coming soon!” There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But we have our house churches—one of the main points of which is to seek and to save the lost.

I refused to be embarrassed or ashamed to tell the flock that God has entrusted to me that we ought to devote our lives to seeking and saving the lost. May the Lord help anyone who gets tired of hearing it.

Father, You have established this church by the blood of our Lord Jesus. Forgive us for being blind and ignorant at times. But help us to see clearly and the hear clearly and to understand the destiny of our lives. In Jesus’s name. Amen.