[Read the Scripture, then what's below. Click the link above if you can't find your Bible.]
If only for this life we have hope in Christ,
we are of all people most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:19
Paul continues to emphasize the truth of the resurrection as the foundation of our faith and hope in Christ Jesus... if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile...
Jesus did not come to give us a set of rules to live by in this world to make things easier. For Paul and his friends everything was much more difficult because they believed. Today, following Jesus, being His disciple still involves dying to self, denying our fleshly desires as we follow the leadings of the Spirit.
Our hope in Christ is founded in what is to come.
What is unseen.
What many are still waiting for.
By faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham obeyed God, but they did not receive or see His promises come to fulfillment.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised,
but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having
acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth.
Hebrews 11:13 ESV
God's timeline is eternal. A perspective we need to learn to live by. It was Jesus's perspective while He walked this earth... a stranger... an exile. His hope was not in His life on earth, He knew He would glorify His Father through death. He knew letting go was the only way to make the way for life... defeat death.
Set your hope on what's to come. Not on what Jesus will do for you in this world. Not for gain and comforts while we live this temporary life in this temporary world. Because if you do, you are one most to be pitied...
Lord Jesus, help me to see and live as You did... do...
with eyes fixed on the hope of what's to come.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death,
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6 ESV
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